Seeing Joy: Part 2

 

MUSEUM NOTES

Jeanne Vergeront

Vergeront Museum Planning 

Photo credit: WonderTrek Children's Museum

Seeing Joy: Part 2 continues an exploration of what children’s joy looks and sounds like in our museums that I introduced in Seeing Joy: Part 1. Inspired by expressions of joy we see in museums and other settings, Seeing Joy is guided by a collaborative, iterative inquiry process developed with WonderTrek Children’s Museum in Brainerd, Minnesota. 

The process begins with a Question, leads to an Invitation to Explore that engages children and adults in exploring our question. Investigation involves setting up and observing children in a PlayLab space. We summarize, debrief, and synthesize our findings and, as part of Interpretation, we ask ourselves, “What are we seeing? Moving from Interpretation to Advancing the inquiry, we boil down our insights to a few take-aways and Re-frame the question. And we’re ready to roll again. 

Dedicated tools for each part of the process both guide and document our work. The first tool, Question Worksheet, documents the Working Question, the Invitation to Explore, Methods, Timeline, Take Aways, and Possible Ideas to Revisit. 

The Working Question and supporting questions about joy ask:

• How can WonderTrek invite and encourage children to experience and express joy?

     • What does children’s joy look and sound like?
     • What conditions appear to encourage and elicit joy?

Importance highlights social emotional learning’s critical role in human development; joy’s importance in children’s lives, fighting stress and pain. It is a form of resilience and feels good. 

Joyful Work Arounds
When we got to Invitation to Explore, we encountered a problem. Usually, we would find ways to engage children in exploring the setting, structures, and materials with other children in the PlayLab; observe them; and talk to them about their experiences. Given the spontaneous and ephemeral nature of joy; a lack of a unifying concept around joy; and limitations of the PlayLab space and sessions, that approach wasn’t feasible so early in the process. We also wondered whether asking a 3 or 4-year-old “What is joy?” would be meaningful. 

Photo credit: Tom Bedard

“Pre-research” was needed to grow our understanding of joy before we could proceed with Invitation to Explore. We chose to explore joy obliquely by investigating it in two familiar contexts: the lived experience of childhood and children’s experiences at other museums. We used four methods. 

• Childhood Joy Remembered drew on childhood memories of our team members
• Everyday Joy described moments of joy observed in museums
• Borrowed Set-ups used photos showing joy to study the presence of physical and social conditions related to joy
• Parent Question asked about their child’s joy on WonderTrek’s social media (This had no responses.)

Childhood Joy Remembered
We were all children once and experienced joy in our childhoods. Sometimes there was more joy and other times less. Bernard Berenson, a 20th century American Art Historian, recalls a moment in his childhood that tells us something about experiencing joy. 

“… In childhood and boyhood this ecstasy overtook me when I was happy out of doors. Was I five or six? Certainly not seven. It was a morning in early summer. A silver haze shimmered and trembled over the lime trees. The air was laden with their fragrance. The temperature was like a caress. I remember—I need not recall—that I climbed up a tree stump and had no need for words. ‘It’ and I were one.” 

Members of the WonderTrek Project Team were asked to recall a memory of joy from their childhoods, a moment of joy when they were a child, any age up through 10 or 12 years; to explore that memory, plumb the feel and source of it. They shared what they’d been feeling and doing; where they were; who was with them. Memories that they, other colleagues and friends have shared about remembered childhood joy include being outdoors, in nature, a sense of freedom, sensory experience, immersion. 

• Crawling through and disappearing into the tall grass
• Going out horseback riding with my dad early in the morning in late summer
• Climbing on the bus and going to the library by myself to get books
• Riding my bike wearing a freshly ironed shirt my mother made. It was a perfect moment; I felt free
• Floating in the lake with my sisters
• Laying in the grass under trees with light coming through the leaves. All the flickering lights reminded me of a million candles 

The Everyday Joy We See 

Knowing that every day, joy comes into our museums, we wondered what those moments of a

Photo credit: Vergeront

child’s joy look like. Looking at photos including the one of the child kicking up their foot, we asked: what does this child’s joy look, feel, sound like? We observed and thought about:

• The child’s facial expressions: body language, tone, sensory qualities of objects and materials
• What might the child be feeling?
• What qualities of joy do we think are expressed?

Joy is hard to define. And while we wouldn’t want to squeeze the joy out of joy by defining it too narrowly, similar qualities of joy came through in the conversations, Berenson’s quote, and the literature.

• Joy is a positive emotion that can be experienced with other emotions, such as sorrow, at the same time
• Joy often brings a feeling of connection – to others, to ourselves, to nature, to something greater 
• There is contentment and satisfaction
• A feeling of joy ranges from a peaceful contentment to exuberance
• It is ineffable, brief, fleeting
• Joy happens in everyday moments

Borrowed Set-ups 

Photo Credit: Bruce Slicox. Courtesy 
of Minnesota Children's Museum

 Limited in settings we could easily create or access, we     “borrowed” set-ups of children experiencing joy in other settings. With photos like the one at left, we could study physical and social features of a set-up; the nature and quantity of materials, the ambience; the presence of other people. Looking at this photo we speculated on conditions that might be giving joy a nudge:
• Open space
• Natural light
• Objects that are soft, plentiful, accessible, unusual in this context
• Falling objects in mid-air … surprise and unpredictability in how they fall
• Visibility into what’s happening overhead
• Space for several children

Gathering a few clues from one Borrowed Set-up at a time, we glimpsed what invites joy. Asking ourselves, what we were seeing, we started building Play Conditions disposed towards joy. What are Play Conditions? They are features of the physical and social environment that support and encourage children’s exploration, play, and learning. These conditions emerge from what research, child development, play theory and children’s museum practices indicate encourage and support children’s engagement, and maybe their joy. This is not a causal relationship between Play Conditions and more joy. But we all carry assumptions, hunches, and mini-theories about what we think is likely to encourage some types of interactions more than others. In this inquiry, Play Conditions help us think about creating experiences and environments disposed towards joy.

Qualities associated with joy that surfaced in childhood memories and observations fall into WonderTrek’s 7 Play Conditions.
• Image of the Child, children’s strengths and capabilities: expressions of joy accompany a
strong sense of agency and sense of self
• Context or setting, the qualities of the physical and social space: the soft qualities of space: abundant light, natural light, moving air; sensory immersion; and space for moving freely.
• An Invitation to Explore encourages children’s engagement or piques their curiosity: with surprise, novelty, or enticing sensory patterns.
• Materials seed the set up with possibilities that are: explorable, unscripted; responsive to children’s actions
• Interactions and Relationships connect people: children feel recognized and connected to others; and adults are sensitive to children’s spark
• Content, or what is fascinating and meaningful to children: the wind, water, animals; movement, nature
• Time creates openings for joy: unstructured time, a sense of possibilities and freedom

What We’re Learning

Photo credit: Vergeront

Our learning is on 2 tracks: about children’s joy and about the WonderTrek Inquiry Process. We’re learning that joy is:
• A feeling and an experience often shared with others, that happens everyday
• Even very young children express joy
• Joy’s qualities and expressions take many forms: wonder, surprise, exuberance, a feeling of immensity and connection
• Joy and play are closely related
• Museums are places for joy
• Experiencing joy matters in children’s lives. It may not matter whether we remember childhood joy; it does matter that we have experienced joy as children

We’re learning from the WTI process itself.
• Bringing in a child’s perspective shows us what we might not otherwise notice
• Play-and activity-based methods allow children’s fuller participation
• The process is flexible, adaptable to various questions and contexts
• Questions matter
• We are making meaning a bit at a time

This collaborative effort has been made possible by a wonderful team. Thank you, Peter Olson, Cheryl Kessler, Mary Weiland, Jim Roe, Shannon Wheeler, Emilee Maillot.

Seeing Joy: Part 1

MUSEUM NOTES

Jeanne Vergeront

Vergeront Museum Planning

How can we invite and encourage children to feel and express joy in our museums? 

This question has intrigued me. It comes from a long-standing interest in Reggio-inspired practice in children’s museums and planning in partnership with children. 

But it was photo above, this look of joy on this little guy’s face and the joy expressed in his body that made me wonder, how can we keep this joy alive? Where can we find it in our museums? Can we open our doors wider to welcome joy? 

Social Emotional Learning 

If we didn’t have a clear notion of the importance of social-emotional experiences in children’s lives before the pandemic, children’s absence from social settings and experiencing isolation has provided us with many examples and insights about this critical aspect of children’s growth, development, and wellbeing. We are seeing signs in our museums of children (and adults) emerging from social isolation being stressed out. 

Early social emotional development has lasting effect on our lives. Supporting children’s social emotional learning is complex, on-going, important work. Many children’s museums are focusing on this aspect of children’s development for the first time. Museums that serve children have a special opportunity to create possibilities for children to develop, learn, grow socially and emotionally with others; to build relationship skills, manage themselves, and become responsible decision makers. 

Museums are social places. They are spaces where families go to spend time together; where children and adults meet and connect with other children and adults. They share these public spaces, amiable environments, and novel materials with friendly strangers. They watch others try something and try it themselves. Children learn about sharing, taking turns, friendship, being part of a group. After a visit, families talk together and remember what they did, what they liked, what was new or hard. And they come back for more! 

Places of Joy 

Children’s museums want to be places of joy. Joy is referred to often in children’s museums. 

• We say… “Children play for the sheer joy of it.” 
• We highlight “joyful play” and “joyful learning” on social media 
• Our missions aspire to: 
•  … bring the joy of learning and wonders of the natural world to life
• … create unparalleled experiences to inspire excellence and a lifelong joy of learning

While we believe joy is important in children’s lives and finding their place in the world, we don’t seem to have a shared understanding of what joy is; a sense of what it looks, feels, and sounds like; its importance and benefits; and how we might support and encourage children’s experiences of joy in our museums. Looking at research, we know that: 

• A dose of joy boosts our immune systems, and fights stress and pain 
• Positive emotions like joy and excitement powerfully impact physical and mental health over the whole lifespan 
• Joy is a form of resilience: moments of joy can help our bodies recover from the physiological effects of stress 

These benefits get at why joy matters. And then there’s this:

"Joy, particularly through the activities that result from feeling joy, provides the individual with the opportunity to learn new cognitive and behavioral skills and forge new social relationships and skills which enhances resilience to future obstacles and threats." (1) 

If joy is important and we want to grow its presence in our museums, we need to be attentive and attuned to children’s experiencing it; to reflect on their expressions of joy; notice conditions that might have sparked joy; and invite joy in. 

Learning About Joy in Children’s Lives and Our Museums                                                 

For several years I have been working with WonderTrek Children’s Museum an emerging museum in Brainerd, MN. Our planning work includes co-developing a collaborative inquiry process for exploring how children direct their play. 

As part of this, I’ve been exploring joy. The museum’s mission includes, The joy of play and the wonder of learning and Experiencing joy is among a set of essential experiences in WonderTrek's learning experience framework. A site has been secured and a new building is being designed. WonderTrek believes it’s not too early in the process of opening a strong regional museum to use a research-and learning approach in: 

• planning experiences at a temporary 900 s.f. PlayLab 
• offering activities at locations across the region’s 5 counties 
• developing exhibit concepts and design 
• growing WonderTrek’s Center for Play and Interactive Learning 

WonderTrek’s project team has developed a collaborative, iterative inquiry process that actively engages children and adults including staff and consultants. We use a variety of methods to investigate and document roomy questions around children’s play, exploration, and learning; the role of the environment and materials; and how they understand place. 

We’ve mashed up and adapted several processes to fit the Museum’s interests. WonderTrek Inquiry (WTI) process brings together Team Based-inquiry from the NISE Network; Reggio-inspired documentation; practice-based research; and collaborative action research. We’re making up the process as we go along: developing and modifying it, sometimes at the same time. 

Supporting this practice-based research is a belief that, if we can recognize joy in our museums and find ways to encourage it, we can shift from hoping that children will experience joy to greater confidence in creating the conditions that support joy in exhibits, programs, environments, and interactions. We can invite more joy into our museums, tweak experiences, nurture resilience, and contribute to children’s long-term well-being.

WonderTrek Inquiry Process 

This is the WTI inquiry process in its neat and tidy form. Walking through it, this work clearly requires time. So far we have been able to prioritize time for several reasons. Not only is the approach key to developing museum experiences and environments, but its continuous professional development is core to creating shared understandings of WonderTrek's foundational ideas and putting them into practice from the start. 

Taking a quick spin through the cycle, the process starts with a Question, developed collaboratively. Often one person offers a question that has been floating around and we polish it together. Sub-questions support the lead question and focus the inquiry. At this point we probe why this question is important to the Museum. We've learned to value the time for thinking about importance.

The Question leads to an Invitation to Explore, which challenges us to think together about how we might shape opportunities to engage children and adults in exploring our question.

When we think about Investigation and documenting, we look for activity- and play-based methods—visual, digital, participatory methods that fit the question, setting, children and families, and our capabilities. We are particularly interested in ways to bring in children's voices and perspectives. These might include: brief written observations of children, conversations with them, photos, videos, a talk-back board for parents, and traces of children's works: drawings, constructions, stories.

We move into action, setting up the PlayLab, observing, listening, documenting. After reviewing and summarizing data, we debrief and synthesize. As part of Interpretation, we ask ourselves, "What are we seeing? What might it mean?" Moving from Interpretation to Advancing the inquiry, we do a group reflection, boil down or insights to a few take-aways and Re-frame questions. And we are ready to roll again.

In my next post, I will write about the work-arounds we needed to come up with to continue our exploration of joy when we encountered a challenge. We needed to grow our understanding of joy before we could proceed with an Invitation to Explore.

(1) Johnson, M. (2020). Joy: A review of the literature and suggestions for future directions. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(1), 5-24