Saturday, October 26, 2019

Blog post 5: what am I learning?

Hello, long time no write, but we're back and my thesis idea is stronger than ever!

Some updates before I delve into the prompt:

  • I officially will be working with the Rochester Museum & Science Center (RMSC) to get objects for my program! I'm visiting and choosing the objects on Saturday, 11/2.
  • My lit review is happening! It's not great, but we had a draft due last week that was 5 pages and used 7 sources. Baby steps, but progress nonetheless.
 So, since our lit reviews are coming along, I have been learning quite a bit about techniques and tricks for running programs, different statistics about adult learning, other projects similar to mine, and so on. For example, this afternoon I dove into sources I "stole" from my Muse Ed class from last fall, and I read about questioning strategies for getting students to arrive at an answer without just telling it to them. I also looked at some lesson plan templates and different verbs for describing outcomes. In one source, I read about how adult learning has 3 steps: acquiring knowledge, analyzing and reflecting on the knowledge, and applying the knowledge. The reflection part is apparently incredibly important, but something I would never have thought to include in my plan, so I'm glad I was able to find this source.

What do I still need to know?

Since I haven't picked out collection items yet, I still need to choose them. Once I know what I'm working with, I'll be able to construct a theme and research the facts behind the objects so that I am prepared to effectively facilitate a program about them. One of my sources said that adult learners expect the facilitator to be an expert on the subject, so I will have to be prepared for this and put in my research!
I also need to do a little more research on facilitating programs. While browsing the library stacks I came across a book that was supposedly a museum educator's handbook and I was incredibly excited to find it, but it didn't end up being that helpful. These are the two areas I'm going to concentrate future research on!
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 28, 2019 at 10:12 PM

    Yay! That's awesome that you'll be able to work with the RMSC and get a loan collection going. Do you already know what kind of objects you'll be looking for, or are you going to determine a theme once you see what they have? Either way, it should be an exciting process. It looks like all the research you've done so far has been really helpful in giving you an idea of what to expect. If you can't find a source on facilitating programs, maybe you can turn to one of the educators at the RMSC for advice.

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    1. TaylorOctober 29, 2019 at 3:43 PM

      Thanks Rebecca, I'm super excited to be working with them! I don't know what I'll be using, but the plan is to create a theme for the objects and the lesson I'll be making, so whether it's as simple as "toys" or more complex like "things used in the 1950s" I'm not sure yet. I might have to get creative, but there will be a theme! And yes, I know a couple people there already, and since I'm working there myself I'm sure I'll be meeting more :)

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  2. Monica ConaryOctober 29, 2019 at 1:12 PM

    Hi Taylor, It's so exciting that you will be able to pick objects from the RMSC collections, I can't wait to see which objects you choose! The sources you found from Museum Education seem to be really helpful, I know with one of our projects in the class (public program) the logic model was great in thinking about the whole picture, and helpful when thinking about every step that needs to be accomplished. Can't wait to hear more about your research in coming classes!

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    1. TaylorOctober 29, 2019 at 3:44 PM

      I can't wait either! And yes, even though the thought didn't occur to me straight away, using sources from past classes has been SUPER helpful. They made us take all those classes for a reason! ;)

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  3. Juilee DeckerOctober 30, 2019 at 2:05 PM

    So glad that the sources from Museum Ed have been helpful! Hopefully you can look into the AAM Professional Network for museum educators. You'll find info online, and if you need help accessing things there, let me know. Might also be interesting to think about developing your lesson plan and testing it out before making your visit to the facility. User pre-testing is so important to project design, facilitation, and iteration! Good luck!!

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