School-to-Museum Activities |
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Using museum education workshop as a tool for learning Shared Histories was a success. It was an efficient platform to introduce all parties to Shared Histories lessons and to create strong partnerships between participating schools and museums, more importantly, it can be replicated elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
There are few things that every school and museum need to consider before joining hands to do this!
Communication: There is a need to organize a workshop between teachers and museum staff prior bringing students to museum. In 2019 workshop, majority of pilot school teachers and museum educators said that during the introductory workshop, they learned new insights of each other which helped them to collaborate in the museum visits more effectively. They gained understanding of each other’s constraints and protocols, as well as teaching style and requirement. Nonetheless, facilitation of a third party agency (e.g. Museum Minds, Thai Civic Education, etc.) is also crucial in following up and making sure there was minimum misunderstanding and delay.
Preparation: The workshop between teachers and museum staff is also useful successful in providing the tool to design the lessons at museum. This is particularly helpful for museums that are not experienced in education programming.
Timeline: A suitable time for this collaborative activity is before the end of the first semester. However, the process of organizing school trips during formal class time can be difficult for some schools, who could opt to do the museum visit with a small class during extra–curriculum time.
Partnership: It is important to note that the efficiency of the workshop can be effected by the engagement level of the participants. Authority to make decision is also very crucial.
Teaching the Shared Histories lessons at museums: The pilot project in 2019 saw success in adapting the Shared Histories lessons to teach students at museums. Some partnering schools and museums could design their session and learning outcomes based on specific lessons in the 4 units, while some used simply the general theme of Southeast Asia’s shared heritage. In order to ensure that the schools and museums dive deeper into the lesson for students, the introduction during the school-museum workshop needs to be detailed enough to give full understanding and appreciation of the teaching materials.
You can download selected examples below:
Budget: There is a need to have a clear budget estimation agreed between school and museum for all concerned costs, such as transports, food, snacks for students, in order to avoid confusion and the lack of engagement in the collaboration.
Sustainability: It is necessary that this museum education activity is regulated and integrated in school and museum annual agenda. This way, there will be less problems with scheduling, budgeting, and allocation of workload on both sides.
Pilot programme in 2019 was designed and implemented for UNESCO by Museum Minds.