Education & Interpretation

Designing a Watershed Experience at the Ontario Museum of History and Art

By Miriam Valle-Mancilla & Marissa Kucheck

With its exhibition on water, the Ontario Museum of History and Art aims to educate and empower its community and address its wellbeing. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2024 issue, a benefit of …
Probing Grief at Historic House Museums

By Callie Hawkins and Rob DeHart

Historic house museums can connect their physical spaces with personal experiences, including grief. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2024 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. Historic house museums often focus …
Supporting Those Who Care at the Baltimore Museum of Art

By Susan Witmer Wolffe and Margaret S. Chisolm

The Baltimore Museum of Art has partnered with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to better prepare medical students. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2024 issue, a benefit of AAM membership. …
Language/Arts: How the Verbal and Visual Intersect in Museums

By Glenna Barlow

A picture is worth a thousand words. Or so the aphorism tells us. What, then, is the value of a single word? That is the question I have explored time and again as an educator in an art museum. It might seem counterintuitive that someone …
Learning from the Double Diamond: How Divergent and Convergent Thinking Can Improve Collaboration and Problem-Solving in Museums

By Dana Mitroff Silvers

Have you ever been in a meeting and thrown out an idea, only to have a colleague start listing all the reasons it won’t work? Or maybe you’ve thought of one in your head, only to second-guess yourself and shut down your own thinking? These …
Identity, Choice, and Emotion: New Approaches to Touring

By Debbi Hegstrom, Kara ZumBahlen, and Sheila McGuire

As Learning staff at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), we regularly assess our tour offerings to understand what’s working well or where we may need to find new approaches. Over the past five years, several factors have pulled us in …
Want to Teach Diversity and Inclusion? Go Outside!

By Dan Kriesberg & Camille S. Edwards

“The fresh air, sounds, and sunshine [are] peaceful.” “I can sit differently, and that helps me focus.” “We can see what we are learning about.” “[It’s] easier to reset with nature sounds.” Since we began teaching our Diversity Education …
Climate Action Heroes: How National Children’s Museum Is Empowering the Next Generation of Climate Innovators

By Meredith Hamme & Paige Childs

African American students walking out of school to march for equal rights in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Eight-year-old activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins climbing out of her wheelchair and up the steps of the US Capitol to support the …
A Journey of Healing: Creating Co-Stewardship with Tribal Communities

By Caitlin Dichter & Nicole Armstrong-Best

What’s in a name? The language we use tells us who is speaking, from what perspective, and (implicitly), who controls the narrative. Names, in short, have power. Today on the blog, Caitlin Dichter, Exhibit Designer, & Nicole …
Meeting an Educational Need at the William King Museum of Art

By Charlotte Torrence

To reach rural schools, staff at the William King Museum of Art get in the Va…