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!