Sector Publications and Academic Literatures

The following list of relevant books and articles comprises three sections. The initial two parts constitute an annotated bibliography of firstly, a collection of museum-sector reports and discussion pieces relevant to the MPSM project, and then a selection of academic journal articles and research papers relating to formal and informal learning, and children's interactions with museum spaces. Finally, there is a list of references (not annotated) of papers concerned specifically children's interactions with museums; the materiality of museum spaces, child led pedagogic practice, and reconceptualising young children in museums.

1. Museum Sector Reports

Bellamy, K., & Oppenheim, C. (2009). Learning to live: museums, young people and education. London: Institute for Public Policy Research: National Museum Directors’ Conference.

This collection of essays addresses the role of cultural institutions in young people’s well being and education. Contributors to the collection range from curators to academics to educators and contributions debate the need to re-evaluate the potential role of museums and other cultural institutions in holistic versions of learning.

Bond, K. (2017). Class act: why we need schools in museums. Retrieved from http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/comment/01022017-class-act-why-we-need-schools-in-museums

This report discusses the potential benefits of the My Primary School is at the Museum to school children, their families, museums as well as the wider museum community.

Brown, A. (2016). Full-time learning in a museum environment. Retrieved from http://www.museumsassociation.org/comment/policy-blog/13072016-swansea-museum-my-primary-school-is-a-museum

This report provides first-hand support for the My Primary School is at the Museum project, particularly noting the simplicity yet potential scope of the initiative.

Correia, C. & Dillon, J. (2015). An evaluation of “Stronger Together”: A museum learning partnership development project. Retrieved from http://www.langleyacademy.org/strongertogether/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Stronger-Together-Evaluation-Final-Report-KCL.pdf

This report is the final evaluation of the Stronger Together project, a project facilitating increased collaboration between teachers and museum professionals between April 2014 and April 2015. The report documents the increased opportunities for cognitive and non-cognitive learning and cross-curriculum work.

Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (2017). Case Study: The Impact of Learning Outside the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.lotc.org.uk/percy-main-primary-school-the-impact-of-learning-outside-the-classroom/

This report documents the positive educational and social outcomes of a primary school student requiring additional care and educational support following an increase in the amount of opportunities to participate in learning experiences outside the classroom.

Ganley, C. (2011). Artist Rooms: Young People and Learning 2009-10. Tate Papers, 16.

This paper documents Tate’s Artist Rooms programme, which aims to provide authentic opportunities for young people to confidently and repeatedly engage with art.

Martinez, F. (2017). Museums can help address empathy deficit. Retrieved from http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/comment/01062017-museums-can-help-address-empathy-deficit

This report discusses how museums might be used as a resource to develop social skills such as empathy and to address issues of identity and difference. The report is an outcome of “Exceptional & Extraordinary”, a project led by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester.

Pringle, E. (2009). The Artist as Educator: Examining Relationships between Art Practice and Pedagogy in the Gallery Context. Tate Papers, 11.

This article examines the relationship between art practice and pedagogy in the context of the art gallery and suggests that the artistic processes of conceptual enquiry and meaning making can be aligned with pedagogic practice.

Steel, P. (2016). Hancock: museums must work with schools on art history A-level. Retrieved from http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/14122016-hancock-crucial-that-museums-work-with-schools-art-history-a-level

This report underlines the mutually beneficial relationships schools and museums must develop and nurture in order to support the provision and realise the potential of art history education in schools.

Stephens, S. (2017). V & A unveils education programme for schools. Retrieved from http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/05052017-v-and-a-unveils-education-programme-for-schools

This report documents the V&A’s DesignLab programme, which is designed to support the Design Technology GCSE qualification through the provision of workshops and resources as well as partnerships.

Sullivan, N. (2017). Educational visits to DCMS museums are decreasing. Retrieved from http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/archive-search/31012017-numbers-of-educational-visits-to-museums-on-the-decrease

This report documents the implications of the decline in educational visits to DCMS funded museums identified through analysis of performance indicators.

2. Academic Literatures

Aerila, J.-A., Rönkkö, M.-L., & Grönman, S. (2016). Field Trip to a Historic House Museum with Preschoolers: Stories and Crafts as Tools for Cultural Heritage Education. Visitor Studies, 19(2), 144-155. doi:10.1080/10645578.2016.1220187

A paper presenting the impacts of extending a field trip to a historic house museum through post-visit, creative classroom-based activities. The paper argues that writing stories in response to field trips can help children to reflect on and analyse their cultural experiences, rather than simply retain facts.

Amos, R.,& Reiss, M. (2012). The benefits of residential fieldwork for school science: Insights from a five-year initiative for inner-city students in the UK. International Journal of Science Education, 34(4), 485–511. doi:10.1080/09500693.2011.585476

This paper evaluates data collected from 2,706 11 – 14 year old students, 70 teachers and 869 parents/carers from 46 schools in London participating in residential field trips. The paper examines the impacts of residential fieldwork and suggests that collaborative and interpersonal skills were improved as a result of residential fieldwork participation.

Dilli, R. (2016). Conducting museum education activities within the context of developing a nature culture in primary school students: MTA natural history museum example. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 11(2), 75-84.

This paper discusses the way in which museum education strategies might be used to develop school students’ knowledge and understanding of nature.

Elliott, J. (2012) To Infinity and Beyond: Museum school partnerships beyond the field trip. Unpublished Masters dissertation: Seton Hall University.

This Masters degree dissertation examines four American museum school partnerships that offer students extended museum or cultural experiences. Using the evaluation reports of each partnership, Elliott argues that such programmes have the potential to benefit teachers, communities and individuals.

Falomo Bernarduzzi, L., Albanesi, G., & Bevilacqua, F. (2014). Museum Heroes All: The Pavia Approach to School-Science Museum Interactions. Science & Education, 23(4), 761-780. doi:10.1007/s11191-012-9541-x

This paper outlines the methodology informing the Pavia approach to museum school partnerships in the context of learning science. The approach aims to alter the typical format of school trips to museums by allowing students to plan their own visits and by exploring the differences between formal and informal learning.

Foreman-Peck, L., & Travers, K. (2013). What is distinctive about museum pedagogy and how can museums best support learning in schools? An action research inquiry into the practice of three regional museums. Educational Action Research, 21(1), 28-41. doi:10.1080/09650792.2013.761924

This paper documents the exploratory findings of an action research project asking how museum and school learning pedagogies and practices might best be integrated. The paper raises questions such as, what is the value of the museum to school education and how might museum pedagogies be used in schools?

Hackett, A. (2016). Young Children as Wayfarers: Learning about Place by Moving Through It. Children & Society, 30(3), 169-179. doi:10.1111/chso.12130

This paper documents and analyses the way in which young children develop ways of knowing museum spaces through their embodied experiences of museums and uses Ingold’s theory of wayfaring as a framework. It aims to pioneer non-cognitive learning models within the museum context and is based on data collected from participants spending extended amounts of time over one year within a museum.

Hooper-Greenhill, E. (2007). Museums and education: purpose, pedagogy, performance. London: Routledge.

This book argues that there is a need to theorise museum learning, particularly in a climate of accountability. The book uses empirical case studies of UK museum learning to suggest a conceptual framework based on generic learning outcomes able to effectively evaluate the impacts of museum learning.

Kelly, L. & Groundwater-Smith, S. (2009). Revisioning the physical and online museum. A partnership with the coalition of knowledge building schools. Journal of Museum Education, 34(4), 55–68.

This paper outlines how the Australian Museum has worked with students over a five-year period to develop its museums, programmes and digital environment. The paper then suggests ways that museums could construct transformative learning experiences for young people.

Kim, M., & Dopico, E. (2016). Science education through informal education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 11(2), 439-445. doi:10.1007/s11422-014-9639-3

This paper examines the ways in which the boundaries between formal and informal education can be transgressed through close collaboration and integration between school educators and museums. The authors argue that such transgressions can help science students develop as members of a problem solving community.

Kisiel, J. F. (2014). Clarifying the complexities of school–museum interactions: Perspectives from two communities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51(3), 342-367. doi:10.1002/tea.21129

The authors of this paper believe that better integration of formal and informal education practices can contribute to greater STEM learning. Using a communities of practice lens (Wenger, 1998), the authors explore the ways in which museum and school educators work together and suggest the challenges and opportunities inherent in such collaborations.

Luehmann, A.L., (2009). Students’ perspectives of a science enrichment programme: Out-of-school inquiry as access. International Journal of Science Education, 31(13), 1831-1855.

This paper reports students’ perspectives on an out-of-school science experience, the culmination of a one-year partnership between their school and a university science outreach programme. The paper notes how the programme positively impacted students experience and understanding of real world science as well as their understanding of subject-based science. The paper also notes that potential of these impacts for students attending under-resourced schools.

Rose, S. W. (2016). Museum–University Partnerships Transform Teenagers’ Futures. Journal of Museum Education, 41(4), 286-292. doi:10.1080/10598650.2016.1232510

This paper is a report of the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s High School Apprenticeship programme. The paper outlines the motivations and objectives of the programme: to address the low local high school graduation rates through the affordance of structured, extended museum participation and the provision of academic administrative assistance.

Spektor-Levy, O., Aloni, Oshra, Zion, Michal (2016). “A place where nobody makes fun of me because I love science” – an in-school Mini Science Museum as a meaningful learning environment to its student trustees. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 11(18).

This paper is a study of a mini-museum within a school environment where students act as “trustees”. Through phenomenological analysis of trustee meetings, the paper suggests that the mini museum allowed students to develop cognitive, emotive and practical skills and help them feel part of a community.

Stocklmayer, S. M., Rennie, L. J., & Gilbert, J. K. (2010). The roles of the formal and informal sectors in the provision of effective science education. Studies in Science Education, 46(1), 1–44. doi:10.1080/03057260903562284

This paper summarises the weaknesses of formal science education and discusses how informal science education could tackle these weaknesses and improve science-learning outcomes.

Suter, L. E. (2014). Visiting Science Museums During Middle and High School: A Longitudinal Analysis of Student Performance in Science. Science Education, 98(5), 815-839. doi:10.1002/sce.2111

This exploratory study based on longitudinal data suggests that frequent science museum attendance across the school year can contribute to increased levels of cognitive educational achievement.

Thomson, P., & Clifton, J. (2013). Connecting with Parents and the Community in an Urban Primary School: Creative Partnerships to Build Literacy/ies. In International Handbook of Research on Children’s Literacy, Learning, and Culture (pp. 54-66): London. Wiley.

This chapter documents and analyses the use of one primary school’s extended use of creative practitioners within classrooms to deepen connections with students’ parents.

Tran, N. A. (2011). The relationship between students’ connections to out-of-school experiences and factors associated with science learning. International Journal of Science Education, 33(12), 1625-1651.

This paper examines and compares how students and teachers associated out of school experiences with learning.

Watermeyer, R. (2015). Science engagement at the museum school: teacher perspectives on the contribution of museum pedagogy to science teaching. British Educational Research Journal, 41(5), 886-905. doi:10.1002/berj.3173

This paper explores museum-school teachers’ accounts of object-based learning. In doing so, the author considers the potential of object-based learning in harmonising informal and formal types of learning and allowing students the ability to connect school learning to their everyday lives.

3. Papers on children's interactions with museums: in particular, the materiality of museum spaces, child led pedagogic practice, and reconceptualising young children in museums.

Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. (2010). Invitation to the Dance. In: Vecchi, V. Art and Creativity in Reggio Emilia: Exploring the role and potential of ateliers in early childhood education. London: Routledge. pp. xiv-xxiii. (click here for access)

Heath, C., Vom Lehn, D. (2004). Configuring Reception: (Dis-) Regarding the 'Spectator' in Museums and Galleries. Theory, Culture, and Society, 21 (6), pp.43-65. (click here for access)

Hooper-Greenhill, E. (2004). Measuring Learning Outcomes in Museums, Archives and Libraries: The Learning Impact Research Project. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 10 (2), pp. 151-174. (click here for access)

Olsson, L. (2013). Taking Children's Questions Seriously: The Need for Creative Thought. Global Studies of Childhood, 3 (3), pp.230-253. (click here for access)

Rautio, P. (2013). Children Who Carry Stones in Their Pockets: on Autotelic Material Practices in Everyday Life. Children's Geographies, 11 (4), pp.394-408. (click here for access)