Museums, Adolescent Literacies, And Great Divides

By Author: Adela
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The education community often draws divisions between skills-based (formal) and progressive education. In this vein, museum education has generally been considered more informal, less structured, and less guided than school education (Leinhardt, Crowley, & Knutson, 2002; Paris, 2002). From the traditional side of this divide, Chall (2000) discussed how museum learning might not meet academic achievement challenges, and instead she championed explicit teaching of school-based skills listed in prevailing U.S. education mandates. In contrast, Davis and Gardner (1999) described the "traditional classroom" as being set up for the empty vessel approach to education, teachers filling empty students with knowledge poured Cartier Replica from one particular pitcher.... Museums, on the other hand, are naturally designed to be Exploratorium, in which individual museum-goers are free.. .to map their own course through the expanse of diverse learning stimuli, (p. 102)

Traditional schoolroom positions and controls of education practices, spaces, and students ...
... have been adopted in many public school settings in part to address the ongoing achievement "crisis" among adolescent groups (Jacobs, 2008, p. 7). Thus, museum field trips and other so-called extras during which diverse learning can take place have been eliminated from some curricula, especially for students perceived as lacking basic literacy skills, as suggested by Madeline, a gifted education teacher at Mumby Middle School and a participant in this study (all names and places in this article are pseudonyms). During a museum field trip, she explained,

The after kids [outside of the gifted class] would enjoy the museum, and they would be able to see and experience things they normally wouldn't. But, they would have to have the time to go through the background like I do, so they will understand what they're seeing and hearing and that kind of thing. And unfortunately, with state testing those kids, the regular classroom teacher cannot deviate too much from those standards. That's where they won't be able to do a lot of the extras like go to museums. They do a basal reader, a workbook, and that sort of thing.

Because museums are commonly known as showcases of cultural achievement, as well as shortcomings (e.g., see Caro, 2006), from progressive perspectives, museum literacies could be an important resource for all students and teachers. In fact, museum literacies can provide additional and alternative cultural capital to that of traditional academic literacy. This is important, for as Heath (2000) pointed out, some educators are concerned that...dependence on formal schooling Tag Heuer Replica Watches even in light of all the current reform efforts, will leave students short of the experience needed to establish the expertise, critical skills, and confidence which are critical to the future world of work, and to the altered family and citizenship demands of the world, (p. 34)

Additionally, as Heath underscores, young people today are increasingly, by choice or circumstance, "on their own, [to] invent ways to pass the time, and look for something to do" (p. 34). As Smith and Wilhelm (2002) argued, many adolescents practice literacies outside of school time that are very different from ones found in classrooms and are often based in what they deem to be pleasurable (cf. Alvermann & Eakle, 2007). Being on their own and outside school walls suggests some degree of freedom and choice, hallmarks of informal education settings such as museums.