The Role of Museums in Education

Museums provide knowledge and inspiration, while also connecting communities. At a time of economic recovery, and in the run-up to the Olympics, they are more important than ever. Museums and galleries deliver world-class public services which offer individuals and families free and inspiring places to visit and things to do. Museums attract audiences from home and abroad. Museums provide the places and resources to which people turn for information and learning. They care for the legacy of the past while creating a legacy for the future.

Museums are uniquely egalitarian spaces. Whether you are rich, poor, or uniquely-abled, the museum door is always an open welcome. A sense of history and beauty, gifts from our cultural heritage, inspires the ordinary soul into extraordinary possibilities. They bind communities together, giving them heart, hope and resilience. They make a vital contribution to international relations and play a unique role in fostering international cultural exchange. If life was just about earning to eat, we'd be depleted and tired. Museums bring to life the opportunity to experience meaning beyond the mundane. Museums make the soul sing!

The most visible and expected offerings of a museum are its exhibitions. Exhibitions tell stories through objects. In a world where virtual experiences are ever increasing, museums provide tangible encounters with real objects.

What does looking at a crystal clear specimen of beryl, a vertebrate fossil emerging from its plaster jacket, or the flag that flew over Inge Lehman's seismological observatory provide in an educational sense? Some professionals maintain that the visceral reaction of wonder, awe or curiosity – the affective response of the viewer – is the enduring legacy of a museum visit. It opens the door to the visitor's mind, engaging them in a discipline that perhaps failed to interest them through other means, and might inspire them to learn more. Furthermore, the social context of a museum visit, where exploration occurs in a friendly atmosphere without the pressure of tests and grades, helps keep that door open.

Curators and educators also aspire to engage the rational mind of the viewer. A mineral collected in the field and displayed in the museum is out of its original context, but thoughtful juxtaposition of the mineral with other objects helps the visitor make new connections. Exhibit labels or a knowledgeable docent leading a tour not only inform directly, but also guide visitors in making their own observations of the object. Hands-on displays combined with objects can provide forceful connections – an “aha!” experience for the visitor. Alan J. Friedman, the former director of the New York Hall of Science, recounts a watershed experience during a 1970 museum visit in which a model telescope that the could touch and adjust brought to life the meaning of the antique telescope.

Museums are the world's great learning resource – they introduce new subjects, bring them alive and give them meaning. Learning in museums improves confidence and attainment: it also opens us to the views of our fellow citizens. Museum collections and the knowledge of museum professionals inspire learning. As the world around us changes, museums and galleries promote awareness of the critical questions of place, humanity, science and innovation.

Adaptado dos sites: http://tle.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/reprint/26/10/1322.pdf e http://www.nationalmuseums.org.uk/media/documents/what_we_do_documents/museums_deliver_full.pdf, pp. 3-4

A música “Hunting High and Low” foi um dos grandes sucessos da banda norueguesa A-ha na década de 80. Leia a letra da canção e responda a questão. 

Hunting High and low

(Paul Waaktaar-Savoy)

Here I am

And within the reach of my hands

She sounds asleep

And she's sweeter now

Than my wildest dream

Could have seen her.

And I watch her sleeping away

But I know I'll be

Hunting high and low

Ah, there's no end

To the lengths I'll go to

Find her again

Upon this my dreams are depending

Through the dark

I sense the pounding of her heart

Next to mine

She's the sweetest love

I could find

So I guess I'll be

Hunting high and low

Do you know what it means

To love you

I'm hunting high and low

And now she's telling me

She's got to go away

I'll always be hunting high and low

Only for you

Watch me tearing myself to pieces,

Oh, for you I'll be hunting high and low

(Extraído do site www .vagalume.com.br)

Based on TEXT 2, a fictional blog, answer question

TEXT 2

I do realize that in the world of technology there are early and late adopters. I’m not the earliest of cutting-edge early TESL adopters, but I do like to try out new technology and incorporate it into my teaching. This list is a handful of technologies that are established enough not to be too problematic, user-friendly enough that just about anyone can start using them quickly, and useful enough that you’ll soon wonder how you got along without them. In short, this is a list of tech that just about everyone can (and maybe even should) be using in 2010.

1. Wikipedia – It has become popular to question its accuracy. Wikipedia has become a real knowledge bank on the internet. Once we figure out what it is (a compilation of all referenced knowledge) many of these criticisms fall down. Access to all this information means a reorganization of learning.

2. Google – No, I don’t just mean search, but all the other stuff: maps, docs, calendar, etc. It’s never been so easy to collaborate with other people.

3. Twitter – A year ago, I taught a course through Twitter with mixed results. This microblog is almost exclusively interactive, but my ESL students found it tough to collaborate within Twitter because of its constraints on length. The email by contrast, is very simple – it is equally interactive but it is constraint free. So, you should use it and you should see interesting results !

Can you learn the language by using the above alone? Of course not! But they are a good springboard and I hope they lead you to discover all other media available out there (ebooks, blogs, YouTube videos, music, movies, etc.).

More web in the pipeline. Please post a comment.

Based on TEXT 2, a fictional blog, answer question

TEXT 2

I do realize that in the world of technology there are early and late adopters. I’m not the earliest of cutting-edge early TESL adopters, but I do like to try out new technology and incorporate it into my teaching. This list is a handful of technologies that are established enough not to be too problematic, user-friendly enough that just about anyone can start using them quickly, and useful enough that you’ll soon wonder how you got along without them. In short, this is a list of tech that just about everyone can (and maybe even should) be using in 2010.

1. Wikipedia – It has become popular to question its accuracy. Wikipedia has become a real knowledge bank on the internet. Once we figure out what it is (a compilation of all referenced knowledge) many of these criticisms fall down. Access to all this information means a reorganization of learning.

2. Google – No, I don’t just mean search, but all the other stuff: maps, docs, calendar, etc. It’s never been so easy to collaborate with other people.

3. Twitter – A year ago, I taught a course through Twitter with mixed results. This microblog is almost exclusively interactive, but my ESL students found it tough to collaborate within Twitter because of its constraints on length. The email by contrast, is very simple – it is equally interactive but it is constraint free. So, you should use it and you should see interesting results !

Can you learn the language by using the above alone? Of course not! But they are a good springboard and I hope they lead you to discover all other media available out there (ebooks, blogs, YouTube videos, music, movies, etc.).

More web in the pipeline. Please post a comment.

Answer question according to TEXT 1 below, adapted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8606466.stm (accessed on April 7th, 2010) .

TEXT 1

At least 200 people have died in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro after another storm. This is arguably the worst torrential rain for decades, causing flooding and landslides. Our website readers in Rio de Janeiro have been sharing their experiences.

Comment 1 - I’ve never seen such chaos. We weren’t prepared for this, even though we were warned that a big storm was about to come. Newspapers are saying that the reason for the catastrophe is the garbage. Well it may have been. We need to teach recycling at schools and community groups, otherwise we will have more disasters like this. (Lia, Niterói)

Comment 2 - Today I witnessed Rio de Janeiro on the brink of collapse. I ventured out around midday, just as the electric power blacked out in my neighbourhood. Three hours later, looking out of my office window, the city still reminded me of a war zone. “What´ve we done to deserve this?”, I thought. It’s night time now and I haven’t been able to return home. I might do so tomorrow. (José, Rio)

Comment 3 - Worldwide, we are seeing more and more climate instability. The deserts of central Asia are growing, while areas of the US (and now Rio) are drenched. The lakes in Minnesota have never thawed this early, at any time in the recorded record. The icecaps will be history, and islands around the world are disappearing under the surf. The oceans are warming, the coral reefs are dying. How much more evidence do we need of global warming? (João, Brasília)