This set of comments reports experiences from a recent “science-meets-arts”-project in Germany, in which students from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg (HFBK) shared day-to-day life in climate research groups for several months. The project was envisioned as a process of mutual inspiration with the aim of producing a joint exhibition and symposium at the end. This paper introduces the project as well as the subsequent commentaries and also presents some of my own observations.
The Katonah Museum of Art (KMA) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate its early childhood program, ArteJuntos/ArtTogether (ArteJuntos), ArteJuntos is a bilingual art and culture-based family literacy program that introduces low-income, educationally at-risk preschool children and their families to the KMA. Using works of art in KMA’s exhibitions, the program connects parents and their children (ages 3-5) to activities that support children’s emergent literacies—observation, oral and receptive language, and critical thinking skills.
How did we approach this study?
RK
Explore findings from a groundbreaking research and evaluation initiative investigating the long-term impacts of museum programs for teens. Drawing on reflections and input from hundreds of program alumni across the United States, this study documents powerful effects on participants, including lasting engagement with arts and culture, significant personal and professional development, and increased leadership skills and civic engagement.
The first outside broadcast ever made by the British Broadcasting Company from a natural location was the Nightingale broadcast of 19 May 1924, in which the world-famous virtuoso cellist Beatrice Harrison performed a ‘duet’ with nightingales in her garden. The broadcast was made possible by the Marconi-Sykes magnetophone, an improved microphone developed for the early BBC. This paper explores the historical and cultural significance of the Nightingale broadcasts, with a particular emphasis on the emotive aspects, and explains the role of the magnetophone in this context. This paper was
How does taking photos affect people’s memories of objects in a museum? Henkel compared people’s recall after taking photos and after simply observing museum paintings and objects. People remembered more when they observed than when they took a photo. However, if the photo zoomed in on a specific feature, people remembered the whole object better.
How does taking photos affect people’s memories of objects in a museum? Henkel compared people’s recall after taking photos and after simply observing museum paintings and objects. People remembered more when they observed than when they took a photo. However, if the photo zoomed in on a specific feature, people remembered the whole object better.
As Maker and Tinkering programs expand, educators are in need of new ways of noticing and capturing learning. In particular, because maker programs are so facilitation-heavy, and physically active, there is a need for ways for educators to monitor learning in situ. In this paper, Bevan, Gutwill, Petrich and Wilkinson explore how jointly negotiated research led to new insights about what counts as learning in the context of STEM-rich tinkering in ways that can support formative, embedded, and naturalistic assessments.
The “Impressions from a Lost World” website and related public programs will tell the story of the 19th century discovery of dinosaur tracks along the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The significance of these fossils extended far beyond the emerging scientific community, as they exerted a profound effect upon American arts, religion, and culture that reverberates down to the present day. The website will use stories of real people to engage visitors to think about relationships between science and religion, amateur vs. professional scientific pursuits and the role of specialization, participation of women in science, and the impact of new scientific ideas on American culture. Website visitors will draw connections of these important humanities themes to current issues. Accompanying public programs will attract diverse audiences and build interest in the website.
This will be a unique video game based on the writings the American author Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond. Designed and directed by game designer Tracy Fullerton, Walden, a game, will simulate the experiment in living made by Thoreau at Walden Pond in 1845-47, allowing players to walk in his virtual footsteps, attend to the tasks of living a self-reliant existence, discover in the beauty of a virtual landscape the ideas and writings of this unique philosopher, and cultivate through the game play their own thoughts and responses to the concepts discovered there. The humanities content of the game will focus on an interactive translation of Thoreau’s writings and will also include references to the historical context of those writings. The game takes place in the environment of 1845 New England, when new technologies such as the railroad, the telegraph were first being seen and were part of the changes to pace of life that Thoreau so articulately resisted in critiques of society.
In order to reframe how learning is organized in traditionally male-dominated areas of STEM education, the authors show how collaborative girl-boy pairs engaged with an “e-textiles” making activity. E-textiles are circuit activities combining needles, fabric, and conductive thread, challenging traditional gender practices related to both sewing and electronics.
Since 2012, the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) has worked with over 72 organizations to host their Maker Corps program. In 2015, 39 organizations participated with 72 Maker Corps Members.
The goals of the program are:
1. Support and train partner organizations to establish and develop making programs.
2. Diversify and expand the network and community of maker educators.
These goals speak to Maker Ed’s commitment to helping people and organizations grow their capacity to deliver maker programming in the ways that is most relevant to them. For individuals, that may mean gaining
Since 2012, the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) has worked with over 72 organizations to host their Maker Corps program. In 2015, 39 organizations participated with 72 Maker Corps Members.
The goals of the program are:
1. Support and train partner organizations to establish and develop making programs.
2. Diversify and expand the network and community of maker educators.
To evaluate these experiences for Sites and Members, all were invited to complete a pre and a post survey. This report describes survey results from both Maker Corps Members and site staff, taken at the beginning