Art Museum Education Research Articles

Perceptions and Needs of People with Disabilities, Their Families, and Educators on Art Museum Education

Perceptions and Needs of People with Disabilities, Their Families, and Educators on Art Museum Education

Framing Youth in Teen-Centric Art Museum Programs: Assumptions, Limitations, and Subsequent Outcomes

Abstract In this invited paper, as first runner-up for the 2023 Elliot Eisner Doctoral Research Award in Art Education, Kendall Crabbe draws upon her 2022 dissertation, Intergenerational Counternarratives of Creative Agency: Reimagining Inclusive Practices Through Youth Participatory Action Research, to problematize how art museum educators include young people in teen-centric programs. Through a review of literature and theory in youth studies, Crabbe demonstrates how historical and Progressive Era framing of young people persists and impacts art museum education programs for young people today.

Gift Economy in Art Museum Education: Imagining a Giving Museum

Gift Economy in Art Museum Education: Imagining a Giving Museum

Museum Education Through Social Media

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced museum educators to draw on new resources, which has led to the increased use of social media as an educational tool. This qualitative study explores museum education through social media using an adapted museum education theoretical model. The more specific aim is to address the approaches, experiences, and objectives of museum educators who use social media, and to consider how youth aged 18 to 24 respond to it. Twenty-eight art museum educators answered a survey, and 15 young people participated in in-depth focus groups. The results suggest that social media is a new horizon for museum education, short-form videos are an effective tool for learning about art in museums, the connection between educators and visitors is complicated via social media, and a balance between high and low cultural practices is hard to strike. The study also provides practical recommendations for educators who wish to consider young people’s experiences in the future development of networking platforms for museum educational purposes.

Pervasive Art Museum Education: Online and Onsite Learning as Network Effect in the Postdigital Era

온오프라인의 공존이 생소하지 않고 디지털이 일상의 문화로 재편성된 포스트디지털 시대가 도래했으며 미술관 경험 또한 온전히 오프라인의 경험일 수만은 없다. 포스트디지털 시대 미술관 교육의 재개념화를 위해 ‘어디에나 있는 미술관’ 모델을 ‘온라인 미술관’이나 ‘분산된 미술관’ 모델과 비교하며, 네트워크된 디지털 이미지의 교육적 가능성을 탐구하고 미술관 학습을 인간과 비인간 행위자의 탈중심화된 네트워크 효과로서 파악한다. 다중 사례 연구를 위해 의도적으로 다양성을 최대한 드러내는 세 사례를 선정하여 어디에나 있는 미술관 학습을 ‘시공간의 재편성’, ‘권위의 중심 이동’, ‘번역을 통한 새로운 학습 연결망의 생성’의 세 가지 키워드로 다룬다. 세 사례의 교차 분석을 토대로 포스트디지털 시대 미술관 교육의 과제를 미술관의 주체성에 대한 재고, 온오프라인의 당위성, 접근가능성에 대한 논의로 제안한다. 결과적으로 본 연구는 포스트디지털 시대 담론을 활용해 기존 미술관 교육의 논의를 확장하며 온라인을 포함한 미술관 학습이 ‘비대면’의 이유가 아닌 적절한 당위성을 지니고 지속될 수 있음을 제안한다.The postdigital era has arrived where digital has been integrated as an everyday culture and it is no longer sufficient to conceive of art museum experiences as soley onsite events. To reconceptualize art museum education in the postdigital era, this study compares the ‘pervasive art museum’ model with the ‘online art museum’ and the ‘distributed art museum’ models. Furthermore, the pedagogical possibilities of networked digital images are explored and reintroduces art museum learning as a decentralized network effect of human and non-human actors. For this multiple case study research, three cases were selected using maximum variation purposeful sampling. The cases are discussed under the following three key words: 1) rearrangement of time and space, 2) shifting centers of authority, and 3) emergence of new learning network through translation. Based on the cross-analysis of the three cases, this study proposes three issues of art museum education in the postdigital era as follows: 1) rethinking art museum’s positionality, 2) the necessity of onsite and online practices, and 3) accessibility. In conclusion, this study aims to expand upon existing discussions of art museum education by tracing postdigital-related discourses and suggests that art museum education practices incorporating online experiences should continue while highlighting its necessity other than the reason of lockdown.

Traditional or Contemporary Art? A Study of Educational Approaches to Children in Two Chinese Art Museums

ABSTRACT Although the number of art museums in China has increased significantly in recent years, art museum educators find it difficult to create relevant, relatable, and engaging learning experiences for children in different contexts of art museums. I conducted this qualitative, comparative case study in Shanghai, China, examining how two different art museums, one contemporary art-based, and another one traditional Chinese art-based, conceptualize museum education for children. The research data included face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with museum educators and a content analysis of documents gathered from the museums’ websites. Using the frameworks for the contextual model of learning and constructivism theory in museum learning, I compared and contrasted the two art museums educational approaches in creating connections between educational programming and children’s learning. I found that both art museums were able to connect programming to children with their current exhibitions, but using two different approaches.

경증 자폐 스펙트럼 장애인 사회성 향상과 재능 발현을 위한 미술관 융합교육 가이드라인 모델 연구

In order to establish an effective museum convergence education guide and model, this study first sought ways to redefine the local and social role of art museums for the people with autism developmental disabilities. Second, the effectiveness of art enjoyment, mental recovery, and self-exploration were analyzed, and through the participation of family guardians in art museum programs. Third, various attempts and new role implications were derived to expand the social convergence platform of art museum exhibition-linked education. Fourth, an integrated model such as communication, healing, empathy, sharing, and support was established in the guidelines for convergence education at the Museum of Art for the Disabled in the Autism Spectrum. This study verified the effectiveness by analyzing the operation of two curriculums, Dreamcatcher Craft Class and Ribbon Embroidery Family Frame Collaboration Class, in line with the theme of ICOM Museum Week. As a result of the study, this study presented physical and social solutions to increase accessibility to art museums. It also suggested the need for a dual strength that can lead to art museum education. In particular, it emphasized the need for art museum, organizations for the disabled, and public institutions to cooperate with governance. In addition, by studying the necessity of active learning in art museums, the needs to expand guidelines for integrated art museum convergence education was suggested.

Designing art museum E-learning resources for children: content analysis from education perspectives

ABSTRACT In recent years, art museums have been putting more effort into creating e-learning resources (ELR) to encourage young children to learn about art off-site. However, research on art museum ELR from the perspective of educational content is scarce. Using the ELR offered to children by Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, Australia (QAGOMA KIDS), as an example for qualitative content analysis, this research interrogates the fundamental issues regarding the types of learning content provided and the learning experiences that the interactive e-games might offer to children. The findings show that the content of the ELR reflected a constructivist museum education approach and that the e-games may offer children empowering and motivating learning experiences. This research offers two suggestions for art museum educators and e-games designers: (1) use e-games to guide children through the creative explorative process that artists go through and (2) articulate learning objectives and scaffold with guided questions to support children’s art learning via the e-games.

Making Art at Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Instagram, Young Visitors, and Museum Collections

This paper examines some of the ways that Canadian art museum education departments used Instagram during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for young virtual visitors. The author studied this use of Instagram through a visual content analysis of ten Canadian museums’ educational posts, stories and IGTV videos, using the theory of connectivism and the way learners can engage with learning opportunities outside of their physical environments. The findings from this study reveal that Instagram became instrumental in allowing museum educators to continue their mission of promoting meaningful engagement with collections for their visitors.

The Necessity and Development Direction of Senior Education in Art Museum Education: Focusing on the Case of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

급속한 고령화와 사회 전반에 걸친 다양한 변화 속에서, 평균수명 연장에 따른 여가시간의 증가와 노년기 삶의 질 향상에 대한 노인들의 관심 및 자아실현 욕구의 증대, 신노년상의 출현 등으로, 다양한 정보와 교육의 필요성이 대두되고 있다. 이에, 본 연구는 문화예술교육 공급망으로서 미술관의 사회교육적 역할에 착안하여, 미술관교육에서의 시니어교육 도입 필요성에 대해 고찰하고 그 전개 방향을 탐색함으로써 체계화된 시니어 대상 미술관교육 시스템을 구축하는 데 기여할 것을 목적으로 하였다. 이를 위해 시니어 미술관교육 및 문화예술교육 전문가들을 대상으로 표적집단면접(Focus Group Interview, FGI)을 실시한 후 내용분석을 토대로 중심주제와 상위-하위 범주를 추출하여 결과를 도출하였다. 이를 기반으로 기존 시니어 대상 미술관교육의 개선점 보완 및 현장의 정책 수요가 반영된 사업 설계 가능성을 제고할 수 있는 여러 방안에 대해 심층적인 분석을 행하였다. 본 연구를 토대로, ‘창의적 나이 듦(Creative aging)’과 ‘좋은 사회’를 이뤄감에 있어 중추적 역할을 할 시니어 세대를 위한 미술관교육을 통해 노년기 삶의 질이 향상되고 그들의 사회적 감수성과 상상력이 확장되어 나가길 기대한다.

Viewer-Centered Learning in the Museum: Tensions in Children’s Books About Why and How

Art museum educators have drawn on contemporary learning theories emphasizing viewers’ meaning-making as individual, constructed, contextual, and subject to interpretation. This learner-centered turn toward meaning-making and away from the object and the discipline of art applies especially to young children’s learning, which needs to be scaffolded. Children’s picture books are a tool for introducing young learners to the museum and making meaning from art. Content analysis of children’s picture books reveals portrayals of museums as temples for passive contemplation as well as active learning; not all learning strategies emphasize meaning-making, and children work against and with the museum to connect their own experiences to meaning-making. Teachers using children’s literature to introduce the art museum as a viewer-centered place of meaning-making should use care in selecting books and consider counternarratives to frame the books’ stories to suit their purpose, methods, and learning outcomes for visiting the museum.

Art Museum Education in Connection with School Education during Covid-19 and Its Postpandemic Visions

Art Museum Education in Connection with School Education during Covid-19 and Its Postpandemic Visions

혁신적 문화의 확산을 위한 미술관 교육 연구: 기술 발전과 미디어 산업 지형 변화에 따른 디지털 플랫폼 현황을 중심으로

혁신적 문화의 확산을 위한 미술관 교육 연구: 기술 발전과 미디어 산업 지형 변화에 따른 디지털 플랫폼 현황을 중심으로

Illness and Empathy: Promoting Anti-Ableist Practices in Art Museum Education

ABSTRACT This article describes the Miniature Exhibition Project, a collaborative project involving two intimate, at-home, miniature exhibitions curated by the co-author, Beatriz Asfora Galuban, for the co-author Asami Robledo-Allen Yamamoto. These miniature exhibitions were made to study disability, empathy, and friendship and were intended to reclaim and make sense of the experience of illness. This article includes details and personal reflections from The Miniature Exhibition Project and describes how the project impacted the authors’ empathy, understanding of disability, and museum practices. The article will discuss how museums are continuing to uplift ableism through programming, representation, and policies and explore how museums can cause trauma for disabled and MAD people. Finally, the authors share recommendations for applying insights from this project to mitigate ableist practice.

Cultural Disconnection During the Pandemic: Access, Art Museums, and the Digital Divide

This article considers who has access to cultural resources during the pandemic, and how isolation from resources due to insufficient technology can impact art museum audiences. The authors consider the benefits and consequences of digital programming during the pandemic through the framework of a museum ecosystem, and how museums can circumnavigate the digital divide. This article also addresses the precarious position of art museum educators during the pandemic and their critical role in serving as bridges between museums and communities.

Teaching museum education without the museum: A case study of collaborative virtual teaching in the age of COVID-19

Teaching virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic presented myriad challenges for teachers and students around the globe. For art museum educators, the pandemic also forced consideration of questions about the core activities of art museums, the value of museum experiences and why we come together to look at and discuss art together in these public spaces. The physical spaces of museums and direct encounters with objects that were once regarded as essentials of museum education, were now inaccessible or had limited access due to pandemic restrictions. This article presents a collaborative project between two art museum education courses and two universities developed during the pandemic as a way to explore some of these questions, design methods of engaging audiences with art and ideas from respective university collections and build new collegial relationships.

Expressions of Care in an Art Museum Education Course During COVID-19: Moving to an Online Class Format

"Expressions of Care in an Art Museum Education Course During COVID-19: Moving to an Online Class Format." Art Education, 74(6), pp. 46–47

Weaving Trauma Awareness into Museum Education

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic is a global, collective, traumatic experience. Trauma-aware museum educators can play a therapeutic role in helping visitors reengage with life as the world reopens. This article explores the dynamics of what a trauma-aware approach to engaging with art may be, specifically detailing methods that can create new cognitive, emotional, and sensory experiences that contradict the experiences of trauma by replacing them with sensations rooted in agency and connection. Through their experiences working at different museums, the authors outline the main principles of trauma-aware art museum education (T-AAME) as it relates to visitors: orientation (setting a supportive tone); being with one another (regulation, attunement, and responsive pacing); choice and voice; and connection. The article also discusses museum-based art therapy as it compares to art museum education to highlight the overlaps and distinctions between the two and to show that museum experiences can be therapeutic without being therapy.

Applying DIY Evaluation in Art Museum Education

Applying DIY Evaluation in Art Museum Education

See the Future through Art Museum Education in the Post-COVID 19 Era Focused on the Discovering the Identity of Community-based by Suwon Museum of Art

본 연구는 지역 미술관에서의 문화 자원을 활용한 지역기반 미술관 교육 전시·교육프로젝트 사례 연구를 통해 미술관의 정체 성을 발견하고 미술관 교육 경험의 중요성을 재인식하고자 했다. 이에 따라 수원시립미술관에서 운영되고 있는 교육관련 전시와 교육 프로젝트의 최근 여러 사례 중 지역기반 문화적 연관성이 높은 창의 워크숍 <49일 동안 예술가로 사는 법>과 문화예술 프로젝트 <거대한 안녕> 전시를 사례연구 대상으로 선정하였으며 연구 결과를 바탕으로 미술관 교육 경험을 통한 교육적 시사점을 발견하고자 하였다. 팬데믹 시대의 사회적 변화, 지속성, 장소 특정적 요소는 지역기반 미술관의 정체성을 발견하기 위한 요소로서 작용하며 미술관 교육에서의 경험은 개인의 자아 형성에 긍정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있을 것으로 기대한다. 지역기반 미술관 교육 사례, 지역기반 미술관의 정체성 발견을 위한 요소의 적용 사례를 통해 미술관 교육 경험의 중요성을 발견하는 것은 미래 교육의 가치를 전망해 볼 수 있는 계기가 될 것이다.