I used to blog about museum work on my academic website. Since that page has gone away, I am using this space to repost some of my favorite bits. These posts were written in 2012-13.
**UPDATE: I just found out that Ju-Hye will be presenting our paper at the 2015 annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education. If you are planning to be in Ottawa in June, check it out! Yay, Ju-Hye!**
How do different learning experiences alter visitors’ perceptions of what belongs in a museum? | Originally posted February, 2013
This paper, co-authored with Ju-Hye Ahn, was written for Shari Tishman‘s “Active Learning in Museums” course in January 2013. Ju-Hye and I conducted a study at the Sackler Museum to investigate the impact of active learning experiences on visitors’ perception of what belongs in a museum. By offering two different types of structured learning experiences (one information-based, one inquiry-based), this study sought to understand how active engagement advances a visitor’s understanding of an artwork and enhances her aesthetic perception.
Furthermore, we obliquely studied the the museum as a site of knowledge-production, and asked viewers to interrogate curatorial choices. By evaluating whether Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s Untitled belongs in a museum, visitors reflected on the purpose of museums themselves.
Click here to read the full paper.
mindful museums 