Closing Thoughts And Possibilities For Museum Literacies

By Author: Candance Smith
Total Articles: 194
Comment this article

Clifford and Bart, the two adolescent boys highlighted earlier in this article who toured the museum at their own pace, were especially drawn to museum objects connected to aspects of popular youth culture as well as contemporary cultural issues. This is shown in the following exchange that took place in front of a Bedford weapons display:
GKfford: [snickering] Dude, these African sword-like things, they look like they came out of a really bad movie. Like the shape of them and stuff, but it's interesting though, I like it.

Weapons were a pretty big part of the time where all this stuff came from. They had to keep the civilizations going and the Merrell weapons had to win the wars, [pausing] The materials that these weapons are made of could distinguish who won in certain time periods and places in the world. t Bart: Yeah, actually some of this stuff reminds me of video games I've played. Like I played one from like a bird's eye view where you build Roman cities. And with that one you can customize your powers and stuff, and a lot of these weapons look really familiar. ...
... But this is actually like very true instead of just a video game. And like the big statues in the Roman part [of the museum] down stairs you can build the same statues in the video games I've played.

Clifford: [contemplatively] I wonder if any of these weapons actually killed people.

Again, connections and engagement valued by literacy educators are shown in the boys' encounter with texts and spaces that centered on the museum's Wthentic and impressive weapons collection, and as Paten, the museum education director, claimed, this Collection particularly engaged other male visitors: These weapons are a favorite of boys; they are just DBtlly drawn to them. If you can really make it come back to the kids, to relate it to something they know, then they'll remember it." And, to be sure, the mu-Wtim capitalized on this interest by displaying weap-OCts in prominent locations. The museum also offered education programs that involved violent conflicts, Mich as dramatic performances in which visitors, typically from scheduled school groups, could become players in a fierce game about Hercules Merrell Shoes reminiscent of the video game mentioned by Bart. This drama activity was reported by educators and students as a favorite one in the museum. And through these texts, composed of image, object, space, and word, the adolescents were arguably refining their readings and inscriptions of the world.