Museum Movement Techniques

Museum Movement Techniques

What is it about?

• MMT allows children to experience the line, shape, volume, and kinetic energy of museum objects.
• Not about reacting to museum object, but interpreting object.
• Tool for learning expands the museum audience base to include the kinesthetic learner
• And tool for communication provides the museum visitor with another dimension to create meaning and understanding for museum objects

5 concepts

• Mirror-realistic or animate museum object- duplicated museum’s object with bodies- FROZEN POSE
• Alive- realistic or animate museum object- create movements inspired by lines and shapes of the museum object- POSE AND THEN MOVEMENT
• Map- abstract or inanimate museum object- finds children reading the different lines and shapes of museum object with their bodies- TRACE LINES AND SHAPES
• Express- abstract or inanimate museum object- encourages children to convey the emotional impact of museum object’s line and shape- USES MAP with 1,2,3 cue, but asks for interpretation
• Composition- used with realistic/animate or abstract/inanimate museum objects- challenges children to work together to sequence movements portraying spatial concepts (line and shape) and expressive (emotive and descriptive) qualities- MANY SHAPES- worked out as groups

Multiple Intelligences

"It is of the utmost importance that we recognize and nurture all of the varied human intelligences, and all of the combinations of intelligences. We are all so different largely because we all different combinations of intelligences. If we recognize this, I think we will have at least a better chance of dealing appropriately with the many problems that we face in the world (Howard Garner)."



Multiple Intelligences: What is it all about?

• Different way of looking at intelligence and how to measure it
• It is all about how we learn

8 ways

• words (linguistic intelligence)
• numbers or logic (logical-mathematical intelligence)
• pictures (spatial intelligence)
  music (musical intelligence)
• self-reflection (intrapersonal intelligence)
• a physical experience (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence)
• a social experience (interpersonal intelligence), and/or
• an experience in the natural world. (naturalist intelligence)

Museums and Objects

"A museum is the best device our culture has developed for the transmission of ideas to large numbers of people through the exhibition of genuine objects. This is the museum's strength. This is what it can do better than any other kind of institution yet devised...like other kinds of institiutions, the museum has both strengths and weaknesses; if it abandons its strong ability to exhibit genuine objects and moves toward the province of some other sort of institution, its success in transmitting its ideas inexorable decreases...Failure threatens an exhibition with long labels simply because a museum is not the right device for transmission of the written word. A museum is not a book" (quoted by B. Sweeny).

Ice Harvesting Anyone?

It was a beautiful day to visit Hanford Mills Museum in East Meredith. After an overview of the museum's ice harvest program, we had a nice stroll around the museum grounds. I think we all enjoyed the visit. I think we all recognize that sites like Hanford Mills truly bring history to life. You can also see the essential role that museum education plays in their mission and programs. Is there a better way to create a learning experience (or lifelong memory) than to have kids harvesting their own ice blocks with the tools of the trade? It makes you wish for a return to the days before electricity. Or maybe not.

More importantly, our visit today gets us thinking about ideas for our own projects and the Yager Museum. A couple ideas that we discussed on the way back to Hartwick are listed. Any other thoughts?

• Pre and post school curriculum visit information incorporated into the Yager Museum website (Hanford Mills has recently added this feature, and it is great!)
• Pre and post info and education for our April 19th public program (our facebook profile is one way, and our blog is another)
• Teacher workshops on how to use museum resources and integrate into the classroom (The Yager Museum could hold an open house for the faculty and showcase museum resources and suggestions for use)

Readings for Tuesday, March 18th:
1) Talboys Chapter 6 “User Groups” pp. 51-65
2) Falk and Dierking Chapter 5 “The Physical Context: Exhibits and Labels” pp. 67-81
3) Paris Chapter 14 “Object-Based Learning and Family Groups” pp. 245-259
4) Paris Chapter 16 “Pathways Among Objects and Museum Visitors” pp. 285-299

Clothing Attire

Don't forget your boots tomorrow! With the rain and warm weather, we will be looking at mud and more mud at Hanford Mills Museum.

Big Picture Questions

Recapping Donna's questions on our SWOT analysis, let's work to answer these in the next couple of weeks.

1) I would like to challenge the group to consider that most museums face a reality that their audience is a smaller, more self-select group than the wider population. The future of all museums (including the Yager) is to cultivate the self-selected "likely" visitors--from the Canadian research paper, those people who go to performances, read, and go to movies. At Hartwick this translates to serious students who are not heavy partiers, and who are interested in exploring culture and learning informally. So, the challenge is--how to we reach/communicate/integrate student input into programs with STUDENTS LIKE YOU?

2) How can we attract more attention to the Yager Museum? For example, better signage outside, footprints as we described, signage on other parts of campus, brochures in key places (admissions and in new student packets), banners on the outside of the building, etc.etc.?

3) How do we project the Yager Museum's strengths to the College community in a fun, appealing, nonthreatening way? Strengths you all came up with included:

Access to museum collections for class and research; look at objects in new
ways; collections which easily correspond to other academic departments and
courses in the college; museum is too access (for students) and hallway outside
museum is heavily travelled; willingness to educate (student curated exhibits
and hands-on experience); and willingness to help students (offers internships,
work study, volunteer opportunities, and lots of ways to get involved).

Feedback Please!

I just wanted to recap something our speaker, Melissa, brought up in class on Tuesday. I know you all discussed museum mission statements. I wanted to point out the "mission statement" for the Yager Museum, which I've put on our blog. Notice the word education anywhere? What about the word exhibit? Remember that exhibitions are a tool in museum education, not what a museum is all about. Also, as you take a look at the Yager Museum website, and notice that museum education isn't really represented as a topic area. I wonder if this needs to change?

PUBLIC PROGRAM UPDATE
Saturday April 19th, 2008
11am to 4pm

Goals:
1) Create a powerful personal experience
2) Involve the College Community (focus on first year students) in the Yager Museum and attract them to the Containers of Belief exhibit
a) Highlight collections objects to help inspire bead activity
b) Make connection between Containers of Belief and Frisbee Field activity (boiling syrup)

Theme:
Spring
Yager Fest

Program:
Yager Museum-
Beaded necklaces
Refreshments- maple syrup inspired (maple candies, syrup, maple tea, which is good iced and warm)
Possibly invite the Otsego County Maple Producers for syrup sampling

Frisbee Field-
Camp Fire
Maple Syrup making (sap boiling)
Music/Drumming
Flint napping
Nature hike

Both Locations-
Scavenger Hunt