Are We There Yet? Creating Deep Learning Experiences

Aerial view of Auckland Museum, with Auckland City Centre in the distance

Each year, I ask each mentee who's spending some time with me to write a blog post.  Here, Claire Lanyon of the Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand shares her team's learning as they create Discovery Kits for in-school use.  Stay tuned in early December for the call for the 2019 Mentorship.

The Learning Team

As Learning Manager at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, I am responsible for the team who design, develop and deliver learning experiences onsite, offsite and online.  I am part of the Learning and Engagement Team, which consists of two teams, the Learning Team and the Public Programmes Team.  The Learning and Engagement Team were restructured in October 2017, I was appointed in November 2017 in an interim role which became permanent in March 2018. 

Our Challenge

Approximately 10% of Auckland’s formal learners visit for a ‘learning experience outside of the classroom’ (approx 45,000 students per year).  Our target by 2022 is to increase formal learner visitation to 100,000 on-site visits per year, representing approximately 25% of K-12 students in the city. 

We are transforming our offer, there are so many aspects of this journey that I could share.  However, I have decided to focus on one of the projects that has been pivotal in re-engaging with the sector - a key priority for the first phase of transformation:  Discovery Kits.

This isn’t a new idea (as a potential funder pointed out, after speaking to a friend who used to deliver dioramas to schools from Auckland Museum somewhere during the 1930’s - 1950’s!).  However, we were keen to retain the essence, whilst innovating, and I was particularly keen to ensure that we were creating a scalable and sustainable model.  During discussions with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage during a previous role that I held at the Museum, a serendipitous sponsorship opportunity was already in discussion and this opportunity formed the first ‘low-risk’ testing phase for the development of a series of Discovery Kits utilizing Auckland Museum’s collections for authentic learning in classrooms throughout New Zealand.

The First Discovery Kit - Walking with an Anzac

Working with an organization called School Kit, who develop innovative teaching ideas that are robustly integrated with opportunities for authentic use of online sources for learning, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage had committed to producing Walking with an Anzac Discovery Kits that would be delivered at no charge to 1,000 classrooms, reaching 32,000 students.  In order to receive a kit, teachers committed to utilizing the resources within the same school term as delivery.  Auckland Museum was invited as a sponsor as, integral to the work that the students would be undertaking, was one of our online products - Online Cenotaph.

Within the Walking with an Anzac Discovery Kit, were thirty-two objects that related to a story of a specific service person.  As part of the sponsorship opportunity, it was determined that seven of the objects would be reproduced from Auckland Museum’s collection.

A snapshot of some of the objects within the Walking with an Anzac Discovery Kit

The reproduction of the objects was of an extremely high quality, the accompanying resources were pedagogically sound and the feedback from teachers and students was very positive.  We were able to leverage this positive experience and demonstrate to our Executive Team and key stakeholders that this was a model that could form part of our strategy to re-engage with the sector and develop learning opportunities and provide pre and post-visit resources that supports inquiry learning.

The Second Discovery Kit - Are We There Yet?

With this learning experience as a foundation, we were confident that this was an approach that we would like to replicate to support our learning offer for future exhibitions.  2018 is the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.  To commemorate this milestone, the Exhibition Team have developed a thought-provoking exhibition called Are we there yet? Women and Equality in Aotearoa.  The exhibition tells untold stories and features New Zealand women from all walks of life who have contributed to advancing equality for women.  It reflects on the tradition of Western Museum object collecting, showing whose voices are preserved in Museum collections and whose aren’t - aiming to unpack this and highlight these gaps and unheard voices.

With this in mind, colleagues from the Exhibition and Learning Teams met with School Kit to devise a plan for the Are we there yet? Discovery Kit.  Our aim was to develop a kit that would:

●      Be suitable for use in year 7 to 12 classrooms, including all boys schools and schools with a religious character

●      Elicit discussion and debate in a safe environment

●      Be centered around the school community

●      Showcase the exhibition and demonstrate that Auckland Museum is a place for authentic and meaningful learning experiences

During the development phase, we identified an opportunity to highlight and share the amazing work of an Auckland based company called Figure.NZ.  Figure.NZ:

“exists to enable everyone to make sense of data and see Aotearoa clearly. Our dream is that when every New Zealander wants to use data, can get their hands on it, and knows how to use it effectively, the nation will be able to shift away from a culture of binary debate and arguments over what the situations are.”

We had a hunch that providing contemporary statistical data, that highlights gender inequality in an accessible format, would provide the students with a strong foundation to support them in making up their own minds about whether ‘we are there yet’ with regards to gender equality in Aotearoa (it was a bonus that Figure.NZ was founded by an awesome woman and potential role-model, Lillian Grace).

Figure.NZ’s business cards were the inspiration for the eight data cards that were inside the Are we the yet? Discovery Kit.  These data cards were designed to support the class teacher to elicit contemporary discussion and inspire the students to want to learn more - the topic was firmly rooted in what was happening in their own communities, right now.  Additionally, 32 blank ‘Draw a Scientist’ cards were provided to uncover the unconscious gender bias that may be hidden within their own classroom walls.

One of the ‘data sentence’ cards, provided within the discovery kit

Supported by comprehensive online resources, the Are we there yet? Discovery kit contains eight objects that can be seen within the exhibition and empowers students to interrogate contemporary data, examine historical objects and develop research and communication skills to unlock known and unknown stories of women from 125 years ago through to today.  Delivered to teachers, who register for the kit, the kits are free of charge and remain with the teacher indefinitely (ensuring a valuable resource for years to come). Utilising vinyl decals included within the kit, the students are empowered to create their own exhibition that highlights the stories of eight women within their communities.  The outcome will be that 16,000 students from 500 classrooms throughout New Zealand will have engaged with and interviewed women from their own communities in order to develop their exhibition.

A snapshot of some of the objects within the Are we there yet? Discovery Kit

The boxes were delivered to teachers during the first week of term 3, feedback so far has been extremely positive with one teacher saying:

“Of all of the kits I have had the privilege to use, this is the one that is making the most impact on my class.  This would be something that I will not rush through and will do each year”

It is early in the term so we have not yet seen the students work.  However, we are already very proud of the results and the feedback that is trickling in from teachers across the country.  We learned a number of things that we will take forward for the next kit:

●      The decision to create this came very late in the exhibition design process, whilst this assisted us to make some quick content-based decisions, the timeframe for creating the discovery kit was tight.

●      Partially due to the tight timeframes, the website was not ready until the kits were delivered in the first week of term.  Next time, we would ensure that the website is ready before the school holidays to empower teachers confidence in making their own connections for their own classrooms.

●      The discovery kits are developed by School Kit who have a number of other kits, commissioned by other companies.  The Are we there yet? Discovery Kit web pages are beautiful but the Auckland Museum branding could be more prominent.  Some teachers visiting the exhibition have not made the connection that the Are we there yet? Discovery Kit was co-developed by Auckland Museum and School Kit.

●      We would like to consider how we better help teachers and students have direct dialogue with Auckland Museum, as well as other schools utilizing the kits.

Finally, whilst this is a relatively cost-effective way to ‘engage every school child’ (one of our Auckland Museum’s goals in our current five-year strategic plan), it is an investment (both people and financial) that cannot be reproduced for every exhibition that we have.  Therefore, we are exploring additional business models that also enable revenue generation.  This business model is firmly a ‘loss-leader’ that boldly demonstrates our new learning team vision:

“To empower all learners to understand and contribute to a changing world”

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Every year, I ask mentees to contribute blog posts as a part of their year-long mentorship with me. Tania Said, director of education, David Owsley Museum of Art Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana and I have had some great conversations. In this guest post, she shares her lessons learned from launching a school-museum partnership.

 After 12 years of trying to launch a full-scale museum-school partnership with my city school district, we have finally begun! It’s a goal I’ve had since I started my position and one I know many other museum educators have too.

There is no step-by-step guide for launching such a partnership, but here are some thoughts to guide others wanting to develop something similar with your community schools.

Be patient

Don’t be afraid to start out small, but always keep in mind what you want to develop. A typical school tour program when teachers call or email to schedule a visit is fine. Our group visit program grew over the years from 1 in 6 of our visitors to 1 in 4 now. For three years, we had a single school partnership, and now we are serving all public city elementary schools. (Eventually I would like to include other local schools, including others in the county.) While we patiently grew our school programs, we also built our volunteer docent corps of students and community members, and with it our reputation.

Meet everyone in the school district you possibly can, especially administrators and teachers

While I have been the director of education, I made sure to meet superintendents and many of their fellow school administrators. Competing demands made it especially challenging when the state focused on evaluating teacher and grading schools. It was very high stress for all of them. The situation is no less complicated now since our local school district is struggling financially. However the superintendent knew that despite the school district’s difficulties more community partnerships were needed to bolster student learning and opportunities, so our offer came at the right time.  

Learn about other museum-school partnerships in your area, especially offered by similar museums

My university employer encourages faculty and professional staff to apply for special leave i.e. a sabbatical. I chose to study school visits to Indiana art museums last summer. It afforded me a chance to visit every art museum in the state, meet my counterpart, learn about their school programs, and read about museum-school partnerships around the country. Knowing which art museums offer free tours and reimbursement for substitute teachers, and which school districts offer scheduling support and bus transportation, etc. provided valuable models and ideas for a strong, local museum-school partnership.

Think what themes you can best support and offer options to the school district to choose

Another benefit of learning about other art museums’ school visit programs was gaining new ideas for tour programs. As a result, my education colleague and I were able to develop a list of tour themes for school administrators to review for the proposed grade-wide visit program. They selected 4th graders for Indiana art because Indiana history is taught the same year and some of the testing pressures lessen after 3rd grade.

Develop a primary point of contact in central school administration

Having a school administration colleague appointed by the superintendent made developing a sound program model much easier. In our partnership, the director of elementary education has been my go-to person advising on program development, and scheduling principal and teacher trainings. Later she will also help coordinate 4th grade teachers’ visits and approve their bus needs. She has been indispensable helping me figure out local school culture.

Offer as much as you can

For the new School Museum Art Readiness Tours (SMART), we decided we would offer the following, which we were able to do through a $5,000 local foundation grant.

• an art museum program with a standards-based and curriculum-related tour for every 4th grade MCS student emphasizing language arts, social studies, and visual art
• pay 50% of substitute teacher costs for art teachers
• provide a program preview for principals and administrators
• offer a professional development for teachers with visual literacy and museum object-based learning
• ensure a special event for Muncie 4th graders and their families with teachers and administrators to celebrate their participation and success
  

Ask for as much as you can

We were pleasantly surprised to request and receive the superintendent’s support for the following for SMARTours:

• bus transportation
• lunches for students visiting the museum
• scheduling support for teachers
• survey distribution
• test results
• the remaining 50% for substitute teachers costs so art teachers can accompany the 4th grade teachers and students

Give teachers the inside scoop

Not only did separate SMART training sessions for principals and teachers provide an overview of the program, but it gave them a chance to learn where their students will visit and gave them a chance to see the art and museum first thereby ensuring their buy-in. When asked what the teachers will tell their 4th grade students, they said:

“How important an art museum it is.”  “How art is an important aspect of life and connects to all areas of study.”  “They will see things they have never seen before and may never see again. An experience to remember.”

Build docent support
Several of our docents are former teachers and one was a school curriculum director. Their feedback was invaluable and gave credibility to the resulting materials developed by my colleague. In addition, we provided the docents a training about the SMART program to encourage them to participate and lead tours, but also persuade them to be ambassadors for the program. The docents applauded upon hearing the presentation as it was as exciting for them to know the local school partnership had launched!

Build in fun!

Yes, there are pre-visit and post-visit activities to make it different from other school visits to the David Owsley Museum of Art, but they are learning by doing. And we will make time to celebrate with the end-of-year event and ensure everyone knows they’re SMART!

Later this month, we will lead the 4th grade Indiana art tours. Check back about another blog post about our further progress. 

Top to Bottom:  
Learning at the Owsley Museum;  
Children learn about contemporary art with Tania Said, director of education, David Owsley Museum of Art;  
Muncie Community Schools elementary art and 4th grade teachers participated in School Museum Art Readiness Tours (SMART) training at the David Owsley Museum of Art on September 11. The training is in preparation for 4th grade students' visits in late September and early October to learn about Indiana art and visit the Ball State University campus. 
Cathy Bretz, education program director (bottom row, left), and Tania Said, director of education (top row, right), led the training. The program is funded by the Ball Brothers Foundation; Cathy Bretz, education program coordinator at the David Owsley Museum of Art, trains docents who will provide tours to Muncie Community Schools 4th graders about Indiana art with cross-curricular connections between art, language arts, and social studies. The special initiative is part of the School Museum Art Readiness Tour (SMART) program, funded by the Ball Brothers Foundation;  
"Hearts and Flowers" Merle Temkin 
All photos courtesy the David Owsley Museum of Art.  

Border Crossing, Part 2

In this continuation of her earlier post on the crossing (or breaking) of museum borders, Andrea Jones takes a look at one border the museum world is often reluctant to cross:  who does what.

Educators Designing Exhibits

At the Accokeek Foundation (AF) we are a relatively small organization with a staff of educators, farmers, and other administrators that help us pay the bills and keep us afloat. We have no curators, trained historians, or scientists. In addition, we don’t have the budget to contract with an exhibit design firm to create the present-day exhibits that we needed for our Green History initiative. We had no choice but to cross the boundaries between educator and exhibit developer/designer.

But, the absence of experts actually gave us more freedom – not less. I’ve been to numerous conference sessions and workshops (one given by our own Linda Norris!) touting the benefits of prototyping. Our exhibits are a step beyond prototyping in that they are never really that permanent. They are just in a continual state of tinkering. We learn as we go.

We were particularly proud of our DIY exhibit “Underspace: The Science of Soil.” We commandeered an old storage shed and turned it into an immersive space that made dirt look pretty darn cool.

When visitors pull back the curtain, they suddenly enter a portal to the underground.

As we tend to take for granted what’s in the soil beneath our feet, we wanted people’s journey underground to look magical. After all, there are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than people living on earth! That’s pretty fantastical. We wanted our visitors to have a new appreciation for soil because (and you may have never heard of this environmental problem) healthy topsoil is disappearing by the day, due to heavy use of fertilizers, commercial development, over-plowing, etc.

In our quest to bring a sense of wonder to soil we brought our best crafting skills to bear. We used cardboard, plastic bags, yarn, lots of fluorescent paint, and black lights to transform our little shed into the most groovy “soil rave” you could imagine. The black lights were also a great way to hide the fact that this exhibit was extremely low budget (total cost around $300).

“Underspace” in daylight – not so impressive

“Underspace” under blacklight – wow!

On one side, we represented the vibrant, diverse life within healthy soil. On the other we recreated unhealthy soil, due to human causes.

Organic matter (compost) is being broken down by bacteria and mycorrhizae on the healthy side.

To top it off, we enlisted the help of a sound designer friend (shouts out to the very generous Erik Spangler!) to make recordings of the soil on our site (along with other organic sounds) to create a soundscape for Underspace. I was surprised how much the piped-in sound helped to create a truly immersive space.

Unlike traditional exhibits, ours was created in about one month. The design process was a steep learning curve and the exhibit required continual adjustments after it opened. The first hurdle was the herculean task of translating the researched information about soil into a visible, 3D exhibit. How real should it be?

What about scale? How big should a rotting banana be compared to fungal mycorrhizae? We settled on a quasi-real notion of the underground world. We decided that exacting accuracy could take a back seat to stimulating interest. For example, if we didn’t make bacteria large enough to see, then we excluded a hugely important level of the ecosystem. We created these little round boxes to represent a zoomed-in perspective, but the scale was still not quite perfect.

Another thing about rushing – we didn’t adequately consult experts before transforming the research into a visual representation. One of our farmers (who is well-schooled in soil science) entered the exhibit and pointed out that our differences between healthy and unhealthy soil were too stark, too extreme. Our unhealthy side has zero bacterial life. “That would be impossible,” she said. “The bacteria activity would be lower, but not disappear completely.”

Polly Festa, farmer at Accokeek Foundation

In our quest for clarity (an educator’s tendency) we had created a contrast that was a bit too exaggerated. This was a good lesson. We may not have curators, but we do have farmers. We added bacteria to the unhealthy side and amended the text.

We learned to make better use of the expertise we had. This year, when we re-launch the exhibit, I’d like to consult with a soil scientist in our network. At the end of the day, we still have to make decisions about trade-offs and balances in the realism of our representation. But more voices will result in a fuller discussion and ultimately a more informed decision-making process.

On one final note, I would like to underscore the advantages we had in engaging the entire Programs Department in building this exhibit. Our part-time interpreters' contributions were a huge asset in exhibit development as well as in the actual construction. Not only did they lend their creativity but they became more invested and learned more content than if we had just planned a traditional training.

The process of creating the exhibit created a powerful learning experience for all those involved.

Granted, it’s not realistic to involve hundreds of people (the weekend visitors) in building something like this. I don’t think it’s scalable in that way. But I started to think of our young, part-time staff like a group of long-term visitors. After all, there are many of them that come and go on to bigger and better things. If we can involve them in projects like these and make a real impact on their perspectives, they could potentially take our lessons with them in their future careers.

There will always be a place for the high cost, slick-looking exhibit within the museum landscape. But I want to encourage small museums to take on projects such as this. Why do we have to look slick like the big guys? Sometimes the DIY aspect is exactly what is attractive to a visitor. It’s really about the ideas and the creativity you bring, not the dollars. Thinking across boundaries is something small museums are often forced to do by virtue of having small staffs and tight budgets. But perhaps we can think of these constraints as a strength – as permission to step outside of our comfort zones and defy categorization.