2008 Museum Education Awards
This article was published in Museum, July/August issue 2008.
The 2008 AAM Annual Meeting in Denver focused on the theme of leadership, a fortuitous choice as the Standing Professional Committee on Education (EdCom) celebrates its 35th year of nurturing leadership in museum education. Leaders model the powers of inclusion and coalition and a professional will to help strengthen their institutions. Since 1983, EdCom has formally recognized outstanding contributions to museum education by individual practitioners and museums that offer distinguished programs and innovative published resources. At the 2008 conference, four Awards for Excellence were presented in three categories: practice, programming and published resources.
The EdCom Board would like to thank the staff of the Denver Art Museum for hosting this year’s anniversary celebration and awards ceremony. AAM members are encouraged to nominate colleagues who make important leadership contributions to museum education. Please visit www.edcom.org for a description of each award and nomination forms.
Cheryl Palmer, Vice Chair, Awards
Standing Professional Committee on Education
The Award for Excellence in Practice recognizes an individual who demonstrates exemplary service to the public through museum education in teaching, program development, community organizing, writing, research and/or professional activities.
Claudia Ocello
Associate Director, Education and Public Programs
Save Ellis Island, Mount Olive, N.J.
Claudia Ocello has worked in museum education for nearly 20 years. When the New Jersey Historical Society, where she served as director for programs and exhibitions, faced severe budget cuts, she opted to cut her own position to part-time to keep the education department intact. In 2006, Ocello joined the staff of Save Ellis Island, where she runs the NEH Landmarks in American History and Culture Workshops for teachers across the country.
The Award for Excellence in Programming honors exemplary creativity and innovation. Winning programs articulate clear goals, demonstrate success and have been presented for at least two consecutive years.
Design Apprenticeship Program
National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) pairs local high school students with professional designers, museum educators and mentors to design, plan and build full-scale construction projects. Students learn to work with different materials, many of which incorporate sustainable elements. Many of the students include their completed work in their portfolios when seeking higher education and job opportunities.
The Award for Excellence in Published Resources recognizes outstanding resources developed for educators, families, children and other audiences in print or multimedia formats.
GreatChicagoStories.org
Chicago History Museum
GreatChicagoStories.org brings history to life by integrating artifacts from the collection of the Chicago History Museum into historical fiction narratives for elementary and high school students. Each story is accompanied by an interactive history map, directed-looking questions and audio excerpts. Evaluations showed students improved their skills and understanding of history and social studies.
Jacob Lawrence and The Migration Series Teaching Kit
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
The Jacob Lawrence and The Migration Series teaching kit is the second educational resource focused on individual works of art from the Phillips Collection. The kit addresses many universal themes such as storytelling, discrimination, social change, community and family and teaches about art in conjunction with language arts, English as a second language, math, social studies, science, music, technology, theater and dance.
