MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MUSEUM VISIT

Resource for early childhood teachers

A C K N OW L E D G EM E N T S

Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI): We wish to acknowledge the funding from the TLRI. This initiative is funded by the Ministry of Education and administered by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. The TLRI has a strong focus on research with teachers that explores aspects of teaching practice. We are grateful for the advice and support from our advisor at NZCER: Rachel Bolstad.

Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association (now known as Whānau Maanaki o Tararua): The Association leadership has a strong interest in and commitment to research. It was this interest and commitment that determined that the unique context of a kindergarten located in a museum needed to be researched. We are very appreciative of the support from the senior teachers and management of the association over our four-year involvement with Tai Tamariki Kindergarten.

Owhiro Bay Kindergarten teachers, children and families: Thank you for being willing to be ‘guinea pigs’ for this resource and your enthusiasm in helping with the development and the trialling.

Tai Tamariki Kindergarten: Our heartfelt thanks to the committed, passionate and creative team of teachers at Tai Tamariki Kindergarten; your contributions greatly enriched the research and created a genuine partnership between teacher-researchers and university-researchers. The willingness of the children and families to be involved in the project provided multiple opportunities for exploring children’s learning in a museum.

The University of Waikato and the Wilf Malcolm Institute for Education (WMIER). Thank you to WMIER and the Faculty for their support.

We acknowledge and thank the children at Tai Tamariki for providing the illustrations for this resource.

A big thank you to Tim Ingle from Waikato Print for all his design expertise and advice.

C O N T E N T S

Visiting Museums ...................................................................2

Conversations and Dialogue ...............................................4

Getting Ready – A Teacher Visit ..........................................6

Getting Ready – Teaching and Learning the Rules .........8

Practising ................................................................................9

Being there - During the Visit ............................................ 10

Making Meaning - After the Visit ....................................... 11

CHILDREN AS TEACHERS: FAMILIES AS LEARNERS ...... 12

Visiting museums and art galleries, or any trip outside the early childhood setting, can provide exciting learning opportunities for children, families and teachers. Our Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) projects with Tai Tamariki Kindergarten have helped us develop ideas about how museums can provide rich learning for children and teachers in particular. We have designed and trialled this resource with an early childhood centre not located in a museum in order to make it as useful as possible for both early childhood centres and schools.

We know that different settings have different policies around excursions and managing trips, but we hope this resource has taken account of a variety of contexts and offers useful suggestions. In our discussions with a variety of early childhood teachers, it appears that the most meaningful learning from excursions occurs in small groups with children who are interested in something in particular. Many early childhood settings are thinking about ways in which they can extend children’s interests through visits to museums, galleries, farms, marae, bushwalks etc and how this can be achieved with small groups.

We think that the principles outlined in the resource, such as: getting ready, being there, making meaning, and children teaching their families/others are transferrable across a range of learning experiences outside the setting.

In the following pages we outline three significant conclusions from four years of research with the children, teachers and families at Tai Tamariki Kindergarten.

Jeanette Clarkin-Phillips and Margaret Carr, University of Waikato

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1.

Joint decision-making between children

and adults

Co-constructing understanding

Children can choose

their level of involvement

Teachers recognise learning

opportunities

Children have uninterrupted

time to complete projects

A variety of open-ended

resources are readily available and accessible

Resources invite

exploration and collaboration

Museums and art galleries provide rich opportunities for making meaning, growing knowledge and strengthening imaginative capacities. If you are interested in finding out more about children’s learning in museums check out the references and links below.

Learning from museums is maximised through:

– responsive early childhood learning environments,

– rich conversations and dialogue with other children and adults, boundary objects or ‘crossers’.

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R E S P O N S I V E L E A R N I N G E NV I RO NM EN T S

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C O NV ER S AT I O N S A N D D I A L O G U E

There is a great

deal of research that highlights the importance of

sustained and meaningful conversations for

enriching learning.

Teachers have multiple

opportunities everyday to engage in dialogue with

children and listen attentively which enables a deep

knowledge of individual children.

B O U N D A R Y O B J E C T SBoundary objects or boundary ‘crossers’ are tangible and abstract things that connect one place with another, i.e. the early childhood setting and the museum. Boundary objects that the teachers at Tai Tamariki have used to help children to make connections between the kindergarten and the museum, revisit their learning, re-contextualise and make meaning are:

Taking children outside the

early childhood setting opens up opportunities for dialogue about

different things.

• laminated photographs of a particular exhibition placed around the kindergarten (such as the art area),

• non-fiction resource books,

• models of objects similar to those in the exhibition,

• sketchbooks for children to make observational drawings while visiting an exhibition,

• small individual laminated flipbooks of artefacts and aspects of an exhibition that the child was interested in accompanied by words or story from the child,

• learning stories that document children’s learning.

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C H I L D R E N B E N E F I T F ROM L E A R N I N G S K I L L S A S S O C I AT E D W I T H ‘ B E I N G A N A RT I S T ’ .

Our research has also reinforced for us the value of children learning skills associated with art. Although it may be that early childhood teachers have been encouraged to take a ‘hands off’ approach to ‘doing art’ for children, teaching or modelling art techniques to children as well as providing opportunities for appreciating art are as important as children learning the syntax and grammar of language. Children need to have opportunities to learn about different media used by artists to convey ideas, alongside the elements, principles and language of art. Acquiring these skills and knowledge will enhance children’s creative abilities and ways of expressing themselves.

If teachers are not confident and knowledgeable themselves about different art processes then there is the opportunity to explore and discover with children to co-construct learning. We have experienced the teachers and children at Tai Tamariki learning and experimenting with different media as they have explored a range of creative arts and we would encourage teachers and children in other centres to use their 100 languages for creative expression.

R E F ER E N C E S .Clark, B., Grey, A., & Terreni, L. (Eds). (2013). Kia tipu te wairua toi-fostering the creative spirit. New Zealand: Pearson

Clarkin-Phillips, J. (2011). Distributed leadership: growing strong communities of practice in early childhood centres. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice, 26, (2), 14-25

Clarkin-Phillips, J., Carr, M., Thomas, R., Waitai, M., & Beer, A. (2011). The world upstairs: Children connecting two learning contexts. ecARTnz Issue 4, 16-18.

Carr, M., Clarkin-Phillips, J., Beer, A., Thomas, R., & Waitai, M. (2012). Young children developing meaning-making practices in a museum: the role of boundary objects. Museum Management and Curatorship, 27, (1), 53-66

Clarkin-Phillips, J., Paki, V., Fruean, L., Armstrong, G., & Crowe, N. (2012). Exploring Te Ao Māori: the role of museums. Early Childhood Folio, 10, (1) 11-14.

Clarkin-Phillips, J., Carr, M., Thomas, R., O’Brien, C., Crowe, N., & Armstrong, G. (2014). Children as teachers in a museum: growing their knowledge of an indigenous culture. International Journal of the Inclusive Museum. 6, (4), 2-11.

Wright, S. (Ed). (2012). Children, meaning-making and the arts. 2nd Ed. French Forests, NSW: Pearson.

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GETTING READYA T E A C H ER V I S I T

Ensure you think about how you will manage taking children to the toilet while you are there and where you might eat if you are intending to have a ‘food stop’ during your excursion.

Teachers visit chosen exhibition or

collection. Take photos if possible.

Find out what specific protocols and rules apply to the exhibition or

collection

Determine how much

and what kind of information is available

at museum about the collection

or exhibition.Back at the

centre use photos and information from

exhibition or internet to make a laminated book for talking with children

about the artifacts.

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H E L P F U L R E S O U R C E S• Make a laminated book using photos taken on pre-trip or from

the internet.

• Have any other resources available for conversations with children.

“I took photos at the

exhibition and got some from the web to make the book – the creatures in the exhibition are

all white because they are dead.”

eg. storybooks, non-fiction books, puzzles, laminated photos etc. of similar or same objects/artefacts as exhibition or collection.

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GETTING READYTEA C H I N G A N D L E A R N I N G T H E R U L E S

Use quiet

voices and walking

feet

Sometimes we are allowed

to take photos but not really all the

time

Look after each other like holding handsYou get

everything you need to know from

the signs. You can look for some signs – don’t

touch or here’s the toilet

There are some places

where it’s okay to touch and some

places where it is not okay

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PractisingClipboards and paper with a pencil attached

are a useful tool for children to draw their favourite object and artefact

If children are not

familiar with observational drawings, introducing this strategy

and practising it at the centre before the museum visit will

be helpful. Make flip books of

photos of museum entrance etc for children to look at and become familiar

with what they will see.

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BEING THEREDURI N G T H E V I S I T …

C O NV ER S AT I O N A L S TRAT E G I E S• Using open-ended questions

• Asking for clarification – where, where, which one? – I wonder if/how/what etc?

• Expressing own surprise at the exhibit

• Responding to a child’s question with an explanation

• Admitting uncertainty

• Asking for recall: who can remember…?

• Encouraging possible stories and explanations

• Modelling expressing an emotional response

Audio record conversations if possible, or take note of what children say

Encourage children to draw favourite artefacts or objects

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MAKING MEANINGA F T ER T H E V I S I T …

Display photos on centre wall of:

• Exhibit

• Children at the museum

• Children’s drawings

Provide reference books and artefacts for prompts for conversations and representation

Provide opportunities for children to rework their

drawings

Write Learning Stories – children may dictate these

Provide multi-modal resources for

children to represent and create their

own artefacts

Use flip books for recall and further

interests. Ask children what they would tell others about the visit

and their interests1 1

CHILDREN AS TEACHERS: FAMILIES AS LEARNERS

Continue to build on

children’s interests. Visit museum again

if possible.

Invite whānau to visit museum and let

their child be the guide.

Make flip books based on

children’s interests to go home with

families.

Ask children and families about

their second visit. Write Learning Stories about

child as guide or teacher.

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© WRI T T E N BY J E A N E T T E C L A R K I N - P H I L L I P S A N D M A R G A R E T C A RR , FA C U L T Y O F E D U C AT I O N , U N I V ER S I T Y O F W A I K AT O .

ISBN: 978-0-9922497-5-5