International Museum of Cultures BLOG

Anthropology Museum Providing Education on Indigenous International Cultures

Entering a New Era in Education December 19, 2012

Filed under: Discovery Boxes,Educators,Electronic Field Trip,Museum — imocblog @ 6:18 pm
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Entering a new year, we reflect on the changes that we have seen in the past to predict the future that is before us. There is one primary purpose for this activity. That is to prepare ourselves to be the most effective in an ever evolving world.

Museum of International Cultures, Dallas, Texas

Museum of International Cultures, Dallas, Texas

As a museum with a mission of educating others on diverse cultures, we understand how quickly social and cultural changes can occur. An example is the change occurring in our educational system in the United States. We are entering a new era in education.

This new era is spurring conversation and, consequently, partnerships. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills professes that the key for success in the United States educational system is to fuse the traditional 3Rs with the 4Cs.

  1. Critical thinking and problem solving,
  2. Communication,
  3. Collaboration, and
  4. Creativity and innovation.

As the Center for the Future of Museums in their blog states: “…museums are pre-adapted to be major players in the next era of education.” The Center depict the new era of education to be:

  • Lifelong Learning
  • Beyond institutions
  • Software-mediated
  • Teacher as facilitator

Museums provide a means to personally interact with the subject to be learned. This experiential effect can stimulate further creative thinking leading to more questions and more answers. When learning in a museum setting, discovery can also create a desire to share the experience generating further collaboration and communication.

The International Museum of Cultures offers the following Educational Tools for this new era of education. These tools are specifically designed to address the new means of learning while also assisted the smaller school budgets of the new year.

Electronic Field Trip

The Electronic Field Trip is entirely online and is designed as an interactive learning tool.

  • A series of videos delivered over the Web that provide an entertaining tour of different sections of the museum. The tour focuses on the Peoples of Africa, South America, Papua New Guinea, Asia, and Mexico
  • Curricula covering TEKS for K-12 science, social studies, English language arts, and math.

Discovery Boxes

Discovery Boxes allow students to experience cultures around the world in a unique and interactive way. Discovery boxes come in 12 different themes and include a variety of genuine artifacts from our museum’s collection. Students will be able to touch and examine the artifacts while completing activities and worksheets that encourage them to think critically about the world around them using Project Based Learning (PBL) methods.

Boxes include:

  • a teacher’s guide with detailed object descriptions
  • curricula covering TEKS for K-12 science, social studies, English language arts, fine arts, and math
  • eye-opening activities that guide your students through understanding the objects

For more information on the educational tools from the International Museum of Cultures, call 972-708-7406.

 

Language is Built on the Need of Its Culture October 31, 2012

Filed under: Educators,Electronic Field Trip,Museum — imocblog @ 4:42 pm
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The language of a people defines its culture in many ways.

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you. They are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”
-Wade Davis

Electronic Field Trip at the International Museum of CulturesThe Electronic Field Trip from the International Museum of Cultures discusses this concept. Below is an excerpt from the e-Field Trip on Mexico. It touches upon how a language is built upon the foundation of its culture.

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Docent:

What language is spoken in Mexico?

Student:

Spanish. My mother speaks Spanish when she is mad at me.
(student laughter.)

Docent:

Yes, Spanish is the dominate language in Mexico, but did you know that there are 7 language families in Mexico and 298 of individual languages besides Spanish? The map on the back wall shows, in white, where Spanish is the primary language and, in the colors, where other languages are predominate.
(Cut to map)
Docent: (CONT.)
You can see that most of the non-Spanish speakers live in the southern part of Mexico. Some of the languages are tonal which means that the only difference between “I’m going, and I’m not going” may be the tone of your voice. Likewise, some are also nasal, and you must say a vowel through your nose. If you don’t, you might say “chili pepper”, like I did when you really wanted to say “horse’s tail”!

Student:
That could be a problem if you were trying to make chili and put a horse’s tail in the pot.
(student laughter.)
Docent:
You’re right. Languages, to some extent, are partially a result of need. Mixtec dialects can have as many as 20 different words for corn, like the Eskimos have many words for snow: soft snow, slushy snow, icy snow, etc. The Tzeltales in the state of Chiapas have 25 verbs for “carry”, depending on HOW you are going to carry something: on your back, over your shoulder, in a pocket, in your hand, etc.

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

As we learn from the e-Field Trip, language is constructed on the foundation of the culture. If an indigenous culture is taught to speak a language from another culture, what is added and what is lost? How can the impact be measured?

Contact the International Museum of Cultures for more information on the Electronic Field Trip and other educational tools.

 

Electronic Field Trip Demonstrated at the MPMA 2012 Annual Conference October 11, 2012

Filed under: Discovery Boxes,Educators,Electronic Field Trip,Events,Museum — imocblog @ 4:58 pm
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The Mountain-Plains Museum Association had a successful conference in Corpus Christi October 1st through the 5th. The International Museum of Cultures (IMC) had the opportunity to explore the purpose of Electronic Field Trips with the attendees during a conference session. This was an excellent opportunity to also present the decision process IMC followed in developing its Electronic Field Trip (IMC Rocks!) and related Project Based Learning transportable artifacts (Discovery Boxes).

 

The IMC recognized the increased role that museums are taking in education. An important reason for this increased role is because learning during a visit to a museum is from personal discovery and individual experience.

 

When a student personally discovers new information, further thought is stimulated creating new questions and the need for more answers. The process of learning through discovery stimulates critical thinking in our young people – a capability that is incredibly valuable for success in this technically connected world.

 

Individual experience occurs when a student is able to actually touch artifacts that are not part of their immediate environment or culture. There is a great movement in Project Based Learning (PBL)  in the classroom because of the advantages of learning through personal experience. The IMC developed transportable artifacts (called Discovery Boxes) to provide this personal experience.

 

International Museum of Cultures Music Discovery Box

World Music Discovery Box

 

The IMC wanted to provide a means for students, which did not have travel budgets to visit the museum, to still learn about indigenous cultures from around the world. The IMC developed an Electronic Field Trip to accomplish this.

 

Electronic Field Trip at the International Museum of Cultures

 

The eField Trip is accompanied with a complete curriculum. The Discover Boxes come with projects for learning. These tools become an excellent way to transport students into the museum without actually traveling to the museum.
The cuts in school budgets throughout the country have created an increased need for eField Trips and transportable artifacts, so, students can still have the benefits of museums.

 

For further information about the Electronic Field Trip and Discovery Boxes contact the International Museum of Cultures.

 

A Museum that Went All Virtual July 2, 2012

Filed under: Educators,Electronic Field Trip,Museum — imocblog @ 10:48 pm
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As museums consider offering a Virtual Tour of their exhibits so that they can play a larger role in education and expand their geographic reach without large capital investment, there is an example of one museum that has gone entirely virtual. That is to say that this museum does not operate in the traditional sense of having open hours for the public to enter and view their exhibits. The exhibits of this museum are accessible on the Web through Internet enabled PC and hand-held devices.

In a recent article in the Museum’s Journal Blog, Rebecca Atkinson writes about her opportunity to have a sneak preview of the new website of the Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (MoDA). This museum closed its public gallery spaces in October of 2011 and relaunched as an online resource. Exhibitions continue to tour the UK; and visitors are able to request viewing the collections at MoDA’s collections center in north London by appointment.

The challenges MoDA faced, while still a museum in the traditional sense, was the problem of attracting audiences to a relatively inaccessible area on the outer edges of London. This is a challenge that is not specific to only MoDA. Many museums are not easily accessible to the greater public. So, MoDA made the decision to become a Virtual Museum.

We have posted information about the movement of Museums to the Internet providing Virtual Tours of their exhibits. We have discussed at least two reasons that we have seen as motivating museums to offer virtual means for their exhibits to be viewed. But, this is the first museum we became aware of that has gone totally virtual. If there are more stories of museums greatly increasing their utilization of the Web, please let us know by using the Comment field below.

The International Museum of Cultures in Dallas, Texas provides an Electronic Field Trip for educational institutions. You can take a look at this offering on Youtube.

 

Two Reasons Why Museums are Planning to Offer Virtual Tours June 27, 2012

Filed under: Educators,Electronic Field Trip,Museum — imocblog @ 10:12 pm
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International Museum of Cultures walkwayThe number of museums that are implementing, or planning to implement, the ability to offer Virtual Tours is growing. “Virtual Tour” is one phrase that describes the ability to view exhibits of a museum over the Internet on WEB enabled devices, PC or hand-held. Other terms that are often used are E-Field Trips, Virtual Field Trips or Electronic Field Trips.

We have previously written on some of the reasons why museums are making their exhibits available on the Web. One reason that we have written about is that museums are playing a larger role in education.  Because the student learns in a museum environment through ‘discovery’ the learning can be deeper and more thought-provoking. So the information learned in a museum may have an exponential result because thought generated through discovery promotes more thoughts.

The greater role that museums are taking on in education comes at the same time when school budgets are being reduced. Field trips are often one of the first line-items in a classroom budget that gets eliminated. In response, museums are creating virtual tours of their exhibits. This brings the museum to the student, instead of having to transport the student to the museum.

Another reason that Virtual Tours are being developed by forward thinking museums is to extend the reach of the museum in a time when funding, either through private or public means, is diminishing. The recessionary economic climate has had a negative impact on funding for many non-profit organizations, as mentioned in our post on the “Proposed Cuts In Texas State Aid Impact Small Groups In The Arts“. A museum can use the Internet to reach a greater geographic area and a greater number of people without the investment in brick-and-mortar expansion.

The International Museum of Cultures (IMC) in Dallas Texas has developed a virtual tour of several of their exhibits. In addition, the IMC has created related curriculum for specific age groups making the integration of the Virtual Tour with the classroom program very easy for the teacher. This has allowed the IMC to reach many more young people than ever before.

We will be further exploring the effects of this business model change for museums in future Blog Posts. If you are aware of more factors that are fueling this movement of museums going onto the Web, please use the comment field below to share your thoughts and examples.

 

Approach to Technology in Museums as the Role in Education Increases June 11, 2012

Filed under: Educators — imocblog @ 8:04 pm
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Rob Stein, while at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, addressed the changing conversation about museums and technology. In his post, he addresses in part;

…What is the best way to leverage electronic media and social networks to engage new museum audiences? When should we invest in a new online collection or a new website?  These questions and many more plague museum technology professionals who are struggling to justify the investments in technology and staff that leverage these tools for the best purposes of the museum.

Read more: Blow Up Your Digital Strategy: Changing the Conversation about Museums and Technology | museumsandtheweb.com 

This is especially true in the changing role of the museum in education. As we stated in an earlier blog post Museums Embrace a Greater Role in Education,  the modern museum has become more than just an informational source. The museum has now become an environment for learning. This broader scope gives the museum a role in education that has a greater impact on our society.

International Museum of Cultures Activity

Museums provide a place for the student to discover information. Learning through discovery drives creative thought and innovation. The modern museums that have embraced their expanded role in education have become more than a didactic source.

We agree with Rob Stein’s statement in his conclusion, “A consistent focus on the mission of the museum, and the tools required to achieve that mission, is critical to see the impact we all desire.”.

As the museum strives to share the knowledge that their exhibits hold, technology supporting new media needs to be embraced. Museum leadership must partner with the Information Technology staff to achieve these strategic goals. Modern technologies must be used to get the information out to the student, even if the students cannot leave their classroom.

 

Museums Embrace a Greater Role in Education April 18, 2012

Filed under: Educators,Museum — imocblog @ 3:53 pm
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Museums are providing more value to educational institutions.

In the past, the museum was considered a source of information. That is still true. But, that information is now being presented through methods that demonstrate how an individual’s personal life and culture are effected by this information.

International Museum of CulturesMuseum education has been going through a transformation. The modern museum has become more than just an informational source, but, has now become an environment for learning. This broader scope gives the museum a role in education that has a greater impact on our society.

Museums provide a place for the student to discover information. Learning through discovery drives creative thought and innovation. The modern museums that have embraced their expanded role in education have become more than a didactic source. We see examples of this at the MOMA LEARN initiative, for instance. MOMA provides resources for teachers to help integrate the teaching of Modern Art into their classrooms, creating group discussion and exploring individual interpretations.

At the core of the learning museum environment is the museum’s exhibits.

Electronic Field Trip of the IMCThrough technological advances, this environment can be transported to the student without having to leave their classroom. At the Museum of International Cultures (IMC), virtual field trips and curricula are provided to the learning institution to bring the museum’s anthropological value to the classroom, anywhere in the world. In addition, Discovery Boxes allow students to experience cultures around the world through a variety of objects from IMC’s collection. These programs integrate into science, social studies, fine arts, English language arts, and math.

Contact the IMC to discuss your educational objectives and how museum education can be integrated into your curriculum.

 

 
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