School Museum Research Articles

Radon Concentrations and Risk Factors Evaluation in Iraqi Museum and Al Mustansiriya Old School in Baghdad Using CR-39 as a Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD)

The current study reports radon gas measurements (Rn) levels of concentration in indoor air at various locations of the Iraqi museum and Al-mustansiriya old school which were conducted using a solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTDs) technique. The samples were randomly distributed over twenty different locations in the Iraqi museum and Al-mustansiriya old school. Radon concentrations (CRn) and risk factors (PAEC (mWL), EP (WLM Y-1), AED (mSv /y) and cancer of the Lungs per 106 person) were calculated, the values of radon concentration were high in the basements (ground floor) and poor ventilation locations (A7 and B1), while the average radon concentration was equal to 168.27±5.89 and 231.88±3.03 Bq/m3, (AED) 5.5±0.32 and 8.32±0.13 mSv/y, (CPPP) 154.63±2.16 and 184.21±1.86, (PAEC) 45.84±1.70 and 39.14±1.31 mWL and (EP) 0.93±0.036 and 1.53±0.022 WLMY-1 in Iraqi museum and Al-mustansiriya old school respectively, all these values are within the permissible limits recommended by the ICRP.

Reaching Out-of-School Children With The Museum School

Tapping into community resources, such as museums, can be an effective way to reach populations that are not being reached through traditional educational institutions.

Integrating informal learning in college general chemistry courses

Informal learning (IL) venues such as museums, zoos, scouting, national parks, and community activities are increasingly recognized for their important role in enhancing the public understanding of science. Many benefits to students who participate in rich informal learning experiences are reported in the literature, including improvements in scientific reasoning skills, percentages of students enrolling in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors, and completion of college degrees. The research reported herein analyzes potential benefits of including informal learning experiences in college general chemistry courses, using the School Museum Learning Framework to structure the informal learning experiences. Assessment of outcomes of the informal learning activities are scaffolded upon the U.S. National Research Council's Strands of Informal Learning. Gains in science learning as they related to formal chemistry course content were quantified using pre- and post-assessment measures. Additional outcomes quantifying student motivation were evaluated using the Science Motivation Questionnaire. Results show improvement in some course-related outcomes as well as affective expressions of motivation by students who participated in informal learning experiences.

Thematic lesson «Man and war» in the school Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War

Thematic lesson «Man and war» in the school Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War

Повседневность женщин Ишима в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг.

The article considers the social and cultural role of women under the rear living conditions in the days of Great Patriotic War on the example of Ishim and Ishim district of the Tyumen region. The study draws on archival materials of the Ishim Shoe Factory, Ishim Museum Complex A.P. Ershov, State Archive in Ishim, Ishim Medical College Museum, Larikha School Museum, which are being thus introduces into scientific use. Records keeping documents represent the formal perception of challenges in the way of life and contain quantitative data of the home front enterprises, while personal provenance sources provide a greater awareness of things at an individual level and draw a picture of women’s everyday living in Ishim in the days of the Great Patriotic War, showing all the severity of the wartime. Historical and anthropological approach, focusing on the specificity of feminine writing, highlights such features of the feminine world perception as emotionalism and great detailing of “male business.” The study shows the changing status of women with the outbreak of the war. Male professions, which were dangerous to human health and needed a greater amount of energy, entered the women’s daily life. The memoirs of home front workers tell of the difficulties of everyday life and of ways to overcome the challenges; describe the specificities of living in densely populated accommodations and of nutrition in acute food shortage; showcase their active assistance to the army and evacuees; demonstrate revitalization of leisure activities and their confidence in victory. At the same time, women maintained their traditional social roles relating to house-keeping and child-rearing; care for family, loved ones, and other people; fighting numerous wartime diseases; supporting children evacuated from Leningrad. In the wartime, women had an important social function: they created a special spiritual atmosphere, helping to reconcile with the cruel military reality, to preserve the hope of peace. Thus imperative of the behavior of the majority of women was formed: “to work not with tears, but with song.” The material of the article can be used in general research of the rear living conditions during the Great Patriotic War, in study of the Siberian region, as well as in preparation of popular science publications and educational material for students and schoolchildren.

Modeling the Player Learning Experience with Playing Analytics. Lessons Learned from Game-Based Learning During Museum School Visits

Modeling the Player Learning Experience with Playing Analytics. Lessons Learned from Game-Based Learning During Museum School Visits

Modeling the Player Learning Experience with Playing Analytics. Lessons Learned from Game-Based Learning During Museum School Visits

Modeling the Player Learning Experience with Playing Analytics. Lessons Learned from Game-Based Learning During Museum School Visits

Modeling the Player Learning Experience with Playing Analytics Lessons Learned from Game-Based Learning During Museum School Visits

Modeling the Player Learning Experience with Playing Analytics Lessons Learned from Game-Based Learning During Museum School Visits

The fragile boundary between ‘education’ and ‘educationalisation’: some personal reflections on the often exaggerated educational aspirations of museums

Although the origins of school museums and museums of children and childhood do not coincide directly, they nevertheless have moved into the same direction during the past decades. Especially because chil­dren are an important part of the visitors, a lot is invested by these mu­seums in educational support and activities. Pedagogical arguments form the backbone of their mission statements. A bit against the tide of this trend, I want to pay attention here to the often exaggerated educa­tional aspirations. To my mind the boundary between “education” and “educationalisation” is a fragile one and can be easily exceeded if the cultural-historical context of the museum content is ignored too much. Educating young people does not necessarily mean taking them by the hand and leading them through well-developed work packages, but is related to the more complex process of Bildung – the formation of a per­son, which usually starts, in view of attitudes and behaviour, by reflec­tion about self-identity as well as societal values and norms. In my opin­ion the encounter with well-chosen artefacts of former pedagogical mentalities and realities in museums of education, children and child­hood, can be helpful in this respect. Therefore, my plea for more cul­ture-historical contemplation and less educational strategy in represent­ing education, children and childhood is not to be understood as phasing efforts in this sector. On the contrary, the shift of emphasis from the neoliberal focus on efficiency, management, and social relevance (also in terms of a possible instrumentalization) of educational history towards more scientific, cultural-historical underpinning will need continuous support.

Dancing in the Darkroom

Russian émigré Alexey Brodovitch, best known for leading a radical shift in magazine design in the United States during his twenty-four-year tenure (1934–58) as art director of Harper’s Bazaar, also pursued innovative practices in other fields of art, design, and education. His ballet photography, made during rehearsals and performances of touring dance companies in New York City from 1935 to 1938, explored unusual methods of capturing dancers in motion. Brodovitch’s images would eventually come to be celebrated for their unconventional approach, but at the time, Brodovitch was not sure of his direction. Recent archival discoveries suggest that Brodovitch reframed this graphic “problem” into curriculum for his classes at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, inspiring students to delve into a number of experimental photographic techniques and pioneering the teaching of such practices in American classrooms.

‘Millions of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, People of All Ethnicities’: teaching and remembering the Holocaust in Russian schools

ABSTRACT The article investigates how the history of the Holocaust is taught and remembered within Russian secondary education. It questions the accuracy and ‘cosmopolitan’ character of this memory in various discourses produced in and for schools. The first part analyses how the persecution and annihilation of Jews by the Nazis is presented in history curricula and textbooks. The second part explores discourses within different extracurricular activities such as students’ research projects, school museums, and commemorative ceremonies. The article argues that the narrative of the Holocaust is often incomplete because it doesn’t fit into the ‘master narrative’ of the Great Patriotic War.

Revitalizing the School Museum: Using Nature-Based Objects for Cross-Curricular Learning

ABSTRACT This article analyzes an educational initiative between Kew Gardens, Royal Holloway, University of London, and two London primary schools. The schools, located in areas of high ethnic diversity, worked with the members of the Mobile Museum project team – including the Learning Department at Kew and researchers at both institutions – to create their own school museums. The idea was inspired by historical research conducted by the project team that demonstrated Kew’s historic involvement in the promotion of object-based learning in schools. The project team worked with teachers and pupils to develop a participatory approach to learning about plants and their uses through the creation of school museums. A whole-school framework was adopted, extending the potential reach of the project to pupils’ parents and communities. Inspired by the collections at Kew, schools used plants and plant-associated artifacts to learn more about the rich diversity of pupils' cultural backgrounds and the importance of plants to their heritage and their everyday lives.

I libri per l’infanzia: dagli alfabeti ai pop-up

In the paper Children’s Books: from ABCs to Pop-ups, I reconstruct the development of published offerings for pre-schoolers, both in Italy and abroad, across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rich and varied documentation held at Turin’s school museum allows us to analyse this kind of source at multiple levels: from the graphics (dimensions, colours, and font type) to the messages directed at children and calibrated to their social class; from the blend of realistic and fantastical content to the diverse methods used to present the alphabet and foster both visual and phonic learning; and from the characteristics of illustrations to the relationship between written text and the language of images. It is interesting to observe how, from the early twentieth century onwards, the progressive affirmation of a sentiment of childhood was reflected in the production of books designed to actively engage children in play – one of the most distinctive and spontaneous expressions of the nature of childhood.

On the rare collection of the School Museum

In the summer of 1993, Nikolai Arinkin, a 5th grade pupil of the Moruk secondary school, found a spear in the Lippe area on the territory of the Moruk nasleg of the Megino-Kangalassky District and handed it over to the Biology teacher M.S. Ermolaeva to be conveyed to N.M. Ermolaev, the then-director of the school museum. The artifact is kept at the school museum under inv. No. 10. The spearhead is 20 cm long, the socket is 13 cm, its diameter is 3.5 cm. The spear has a double-edged blade in the shape of a leaf. The well-defined midrib merges into a conical socket with a reinforced wider edge. On one side, a crack can be noted almost the entire length of the socket. Where the socket merges into the tip, there are three thickenings ornamented with oblique shading on both sides. The nubs on both sides are decorated with two parallel notches. The thickening of the socket edge is divided by a line and decorated with oblique herringbone hatching. There is one lateral pin hole in the socket

Medical collections of Ukrainian universities: genesis of creation before 1914

The article traces the history of the packing of university medical collections during the so-called “golden age” of high school museum affairs – from the end of the XVIIIth century – until the First World War and the importance of such components of the university's cultural heritage. The methodology of the article is a set of scientific principles, general scientific and special historical methods. Scientific novelty. In Ukrainian historiography this issue is considered in a comprehensive way for the first time. Conclusions. Researchers often analyze universities through the prism of their defining educational and research function. Such groupings of medical type have their genesis of creation. It had been developing parallel with the transformation of universities. Teachers of Lviv University accumulated the first medical collections in Ukrainian higher education institutions in the late XVIIIth century. In the XIX century, as part of creating a classical education system in the territories that were part of the Russian and Austrian empires, teachers of the mentioned Lviv, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Novorossiysk universities also actively have been forming medical collections. It was an essential basis for organizing the research process or its result. Nowadays, these accumulated collections must be considered in the context of their cultural significance. It dramatically increases their chances of survival in the future.

Advantages of joint work of school with organizations of supplementary education at different historical stages

Article deals with the problem of interaction of the museum and school from the early ages. Authors give thoroughly full images of joint work of museums and schools in developed countries and analyze their experiences in conducting this way of cooperation. In the article there were listed the problems of interaction between the museum and the school and features of interaction at different historical stages. Authors describe the promising models of cooperation and the answers to question ‘How the problem of “museum and school” is solved abroad?’ Work of museums with students have been discussed in details, i.e. work with preschoolers and younger students, middle and high school students. Authors gave classification of museums of educational institutions: university museums, school museums, pedagogical museums. They have considered pedagogical museums in the period of origin and prosperity, the evolution of pedagogical museums, museums of the history of education and children's museums. Authors have analyzed the prospective of having museumschool partnership.

Teaching classics with objects? The acquisition of classical antiquities by British schools, 1860–1950

Abstract British secondary schools amassed collections of antiquities from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. These ordinarily contained classical objects, sometimes alongside Egyptian antiquities, and accompanied collections of natural history, geology and ethnography. This paper uses the collection formed by Bedford Modern School, now housed at the Higgins Museum, Bedford, to study the phenomenon of school classical collections. The analysis presented here places school collections within a wider history of ‘object lessons’, but suggests that these collections were more than merely teaching aids. School museums could act as signifiers of power and prestige, connection to alumni and wider local communities, and to a heritage of learning and scholarship embodied by classical antiquities. Furthermore, these collections illustrate the personalities and interests of individual collectors – usually the schoolmasters who were instrumental in their formation.

MODERN METHODS OF RESEARCH OF PHOTO ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE SCHOOL MUSEUM)

The problem of studying regional history based on the school museum's photographic materials is investigated. The article describes the main methods and forms of creating an exhibition, as part of the study of the historical past of the Astrakhan Region. This article will be of interest to specialists in the organization of local history work in the field of education of the Russian Federation in matters of the content and direction of research activities of schoolchildren.

Contributions of the Science Museums for Teacher Education in Brazil

In this article we discuss the main contributions of the Brazilian Science Museums for teacher education of different levels and areas. The education activities developed in these non-formal places involve the update of science contents, production of teaching resources, socialization of knowledge among peers and between teachers and the technical staff of these places, and teaching advice for the development of science projects at schools. This variety of options of assistance for teacher education is based on the diversity of public and demands. Generally the Brazilian Science Museums suit seeking education proposals to teachers who attend these sites and using them as teaching resources to complement the lessons in school. Some proposals for training are the need to give teachers the space of the museum and the opportunities for interaction with visitors. Other programs seek to facilitate the relationship with the teacher and the school museum. Others seek to include teachers in the debate on the popularization of science and technology in the country, permeating the bias of education in science and consolidation of citizenship.

Networking interaction of school museums in the Russian Federation as a necessary resource for preserving historical memory

Networking interaction of school museums in the Russian Federation as a necessary resource for preserving historical memory