Bringing the Museum into the Classroom, and the Class into the Museum: An Approach for Content‐Based Instruction

Abstract

Through the example of a fourth‐semester course on modern German history, this article explores the application of interactive and experiential learning models inspired by museum pedagogy. In response to the ACTFL Standards and the 2007 MLA report, the teaching of culture has become a priority and educators continue to seek innovative ways to teach culture and to attain the goals of “comparisons” and “connections,” as well as translingual and transcultural competence. This article demonstrates that museum strategies can be productively transferred to content‐based foreign language instruction to provide learning experiences in which students interact critically with the objects of cultural archives. Both actual and virtual museum visits, as well as the integration of primary materials in the classroom, can further students' transcultural competence and critical thinking about the interrelations of culture and language, as well as provide intellectually and aesthetically engaging learning experiences.