Teaching in the Art Museum: Museum Education in Theory and Practice Dr. Nathaniel Prottas nathaniel.prottas@wienmuseum.at This class will be offered in English. All discussions, reading, and assignments will take place and be completed in English. Course objectives: This course examines the relationship between museum education practice and theory and seeks to explore the academic and theoretical underpinning of the field. Our goal will be to understand education not as that which happens after the show has been completed, but as a cooperative and integrative working process that balances academic research with live experiences of museum visitors Learning outcomes: Students will learn how to teach with objects in the museum in a theoretically founded way. Students will understand the historical relationship of education to the museum’s goals and learn to think beyond art historical methods for museum programming. They will explore different ways of accessing and engaging with art, including dialogical, theatrical, and artistic models. Course Contents: The course examines the historical, theoretical, and practical foundations of art museum education. Students will explore how museum education can be understood as a field that balances art historical information with theories of learning, joint meaning-making, and experience. Although museum educators necessarily dedicate much of their time to practical questions—how large is the group? what age group? how much time does the group have?—museum education has the potential to foster dialogue and engage visitors in discussions that expand our histories and understanding of the world, fostering democratic ideals of equality and openness. We will investigate how object knowledge is produced, which knowledge is valued and which ignored, and who has a voice in the museum. Central to the course will be the question of how the theoretical models of democratic and radically democratic museum education can be implemented in the museum. As such, we will discuss the challenges of transforming theory into praxis, focusing on new and traditional models such as ‘embodiment’, ‘object centered learning,’ ‘education as anti-racist praxis,’ ‘the educational turn in curating,’ ‘dialogical models,’ and ‘constructivism.’ In addition, we will learn how educators can work collaboratively with curators and visitor services to create inclusive and visitor-oriented museums and exhibitions. Our goal will be to understand education not as that which happens after the show has been completed, but as a cooperative and integrative working process that balances academic research with live experiences of museum visitors Planned learning activities and teaching methods: The course will balance discussion of theoretical and practical texts with hands-on experimentation in different teaching and learning styles for the museum. We will ask how theoretical concepts of participation, inclusion, and meaning-making can be implemented in the context of short and long-term museum programming through group discussion and exercises. A planned to trip to Vienna museums will offer direct insight into how education departments create and implement programming. Assessment methods and criteria: Students will complete small assignments during the semester in advance of a lesson plan for a single object or group of objects in a Viennese museum. Students will evaluate a tour in a museum, research a single work they wish to create a lesson plan for, and then present that lesson plan for feedback from the class. Course Readings: There is no course textbook, but assigned selections from longer books, articles and exhibition catalogues that will be posted on the Moodle. Course Evaluation: Students are expected to do all the assigned readings, take notes, and prepare to discuss them in class. For each class, students will be required to write a two page response to the reading assignments. The readings should be critically assessed using the prompt questions listed at the top of each session (see below). The response should not be summaries of the texts, but rather critically think through the connections, contradictions, and discrepancies among the texts based on the questions. Active participation in discussions and activities is required. Grades: The class is pass/fail. Academic honesty: All submitted work is expected to represent the work and ideas of the student’s own intellectual effort, stated in his or her own words and including clear and explicit acknowledgement of sources and ideas included within. All sources in written work must be cited, including internet sources. Detailed guidelines on how to appropriately cite material in the body of written work will be provided alongside the grading criteria for the first essay. Let me remind you, it is now fairly easy with software like SafeAssign to check for plagiarism – don’t do it! Computer Policy: I do allow students to use computers in order to take notes during class. However, if you are found sending emails, updating social media, checking websites, etc. then this privilege will be revoked and it will have a negative impact on your grade. Cell phones must be turned on silent during class. Students found checking their phones during class will have their participation grade for that session lowered. Class Schedule: This course will be taught as a block seminar, meeting once a month on Fridays and will include a day trip to Vienna, COVID permitting. . Class 1: Friday, April 2 Assignment: Two page response paper due at 9 am on Friday, April 2 o What is museum education? What is its relationship from art history? What are the similarities with art history and what are the differences? Is a museum a space of learning and has it always been? Session 1: 10 am- 12 pm What is Museum Education and How is it Different from Art History? ● Burnham, Rika. “If you don’t look you don’t see.” Teachers College Record 95.4 (Summer 1994): 520-525. ● Carmen Mörsch, “At the Crossroads of Four Discourses,” in documenta 12 education. Between Cultural Praxis and Public Service. Edited by Carmen Mörsch. IAE Publication, 2009. (Attention: Read ONLY to page 21) ● Nathaniel Prottas, “Contextualization and Experience in the Museum: Hans Georg Gadamer, Art History, and Dialogical Teaching,” Journal of Aesthetic Education. 51.3. Fall, 2017. Lunch Break: 12:00 -2:00 pm Session 2: 2:00-3:00 pm The Historical Mandate of Museums to Educate and the History of Museum Education · Please read one of each and be prepared to discussion: o Tony Bennet, “The Formation of the Museum” in Birth of the Museum. History. Theory, Politics. New York: Routledge, 1995. 17-48. o Andrew McClellan, “Musee du Louvre, Paris: Palace of the People, Art for All,” in The First Modern Museums of Art. The Birth of an Institution in 18th and early-19th-Century Europe. Ed. Carole Paul. Los Angeles: The Paul Getty Museum, 2012. 213-237. ● Read all of the following: * Nathaniel Prottas, “Where Does the History of Museum Education Begin?” The Journal of Museum Education, 44.4. (2019). 337-41. * Felicity Allen, “Situating Gallery Teaching,” Tate Encounters. February, 2008. 1-12. o Elliot Kai-Kee,“History of Gallery Teaching.” In Teaching in the Art Museum. Rika Burnham and Elliot Kai-Kee. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. 2011. 19-58. Break: 3:00 -3:15 Session 3: 3:15-4:30 pm Museum Teaching as Experience and Guided Interpretation Guest Speaker: Rika Burnham, Former Head of Education, The Frick Collection ● Rika Burnham and Elliot Kai-Kee, ‘Conversation, Discussion, and Dialogue,’ ‘Gallery Teaching as Guided Interpretation.’ ‘Information in Gallery Teaching.’ In Teaching in the Art Museum. Rika Burnham and Elliot Kai-Kee. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. 2011. Class 2: Friday, May 7^th Assignment: One- to two- page response paper due at 9 am on Friday, Mary 7^th o How do visitors create meaning making in the museum? What aspects of the museum, our culture, and individual experiences play a role in how visitors create meaning? How can curators and educators work to support meaning making in the museum? Session 1: 10:00 am- 12:00 pm Meaning Making: Musicological and (vs?) Educational Perspectives · Mieke Bal, ‘On Grouping.’ In Looking In: The Art of Viewing. Amsterdam: G & B Arts International, 2001. 161-190. ● Eileen Hooper-Greenhill, ‘Culture and meaning in the museum,’ in Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture. New York: Routledge. 2000. 1-22. ● Falk and Dierking, “Introduction to the Contextual Model of Learning,” in The Museum Experience Revisited, New York: Routledge, 2012. 23-34. ● George Hein, “The Constructivist Museum,” Journal for Education in Museums 16, 1995. 21-23. Lunch: 12:00 pm -2:00 pm Session 2: 2:00pm-3:00 pm Curators and Educators Working Together Guest Speaker; Michaela Kronberger, Curator for Archeology and Head of Collections, Wien Museum ● Jeanette M. Toohey and Inez S. Williams,” Beyond the Turf Battles: Creating Effective Curator-Educator Partnerships,” Journal of Museum Education. 18. 1. (1993). 4-6. ● Phillipa Pitts, “Visitor to Visitor Learning: Setting up Open-Ended Inquiry in an Unstaffed Space,” Journal of Museum Education. 43.4. (2018). 306-315. Break: 3:00 pm -3:15 pm Session 3: 3:15 pm-4:30 pm Teaching with Objects. Discussion and Tours · Best, “Making museum tours better: understanding what a guided tour really is and what a tour guide really does,” Museum Management and Curatorship, 27:1(2012),35-52, ● Shuh, “Teaching Yourself to Teach with Objects,” in The Educational Role of the Museum edited by Eileen Hooper-Greenhill, 80-91. ● Kemeza, "Embracing Individualism and Encouraging Personal Style in Gallery Teaching." Journal of Museum Education 44:2, 2019. Class 3: Friday, June 4 Assignment: One- to two- page response paper due at 9 am on Friday, June 4^th o How can museums support varied and diverse avenues to engagement with art? How do museums structurally exclude certain people or narratives and what can they do to rectify these problems? Look at two local museums to see what they offer for inclusive and anti-racist/colonialist programming and exhibtions. Session 1: 10:00 am- 12:00 pm Teaching with Objects, Creativity, and Multiple Viewpoints ● Elliott Kai-Kee, “Gallery Games and Mash-ups: The Lessons of History for Activity-based Teaching,” Journal of Museum Education. 44. 4. (2019). 391-398. ● Surface, "Developing Close Looking, Creativity and Community Through Writing and
Art." Journal of Museum Education 44:5, 2018. ● Santa German and Jim Harris, “Agile Objects” Journal of Museum Education 42.3. 2017. 248-257. Lunch: 12:00 pm-2:00 pm Session 2: 2:00 pm-3:15 pm Post-Colonialism and Museum Education Guest Speaker Lisa Noggler, Curator Wien Museum. ● Nora Landkammer, “The Museum as a Site of Unlearning? Coloniality and education in ethnographic museums, a study focusing on Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” in Stephanie Endter, Nora Landkammer, and Karin Schneider (eds.), The Museum as a Site of Unlearning: Materials and Reflections on Museum Education at the Weltkulturen Museum. ● Watch the following 18 minute video: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=de Break: 3:30 pm-4:30 pm Making Museums Inclusion: Guest Speaker: TBA ● Abigail Diaz, “Alienated: A Museum visit with My Brother,” Fwd: Museums Journal “Aleien.” Ed. Theresa Quinn and Lauren DeJesus. Fall 2018. ● Carolyn Halpin-Healy, “Well-Chosen Objects Support Well-Being for People with Dementia and Their Care Partners,” Journal of Museum Education, 42.3. (2017) 224-235. Class 4: Date to be Determined Day trip to visit to Vienna Museums