Exploring museums for schools

By Naomii Seah, Industry Reporter

A museum visit can bring subjects to life for students of all ages; read along to discover how a museum visit could enrich your curriculum.

In Australia, we are fortunate to have many museums that display collections of artefacts and other objects on all manner of subjects. Whether the subject of interest is art, culture, history or science and technology, there’s bound to be a museum or exhibit dedicated to the field.

For educators, museums present a wonderful learning opportunity as they provide students with close interactions with objects related to a given learning inquiry. Often, the physicality of an object, the interactivity of exhibits, or simply the delight of a school excursion can strongly engage students and further their understanding of a subject.

Museums are unique because they provide a type of tangible learning experience; students can see history unfolding through material artefacts, or understand complex processes such as geological formations through models and videos. The multi-sensory experience of a museum visit provides information through many pathways and inputs, leading to a more complex articulation of understanding.

In a museum, students are also given a degree of autonomy over their learning as they explore exhibits, make connections between the artefacts and their area of learning, and interact with displays. Through a museum visit, students are encouraged to take an active role in their learning as they move through the space. Museums regularly host special exhibits, introduce new displays, and include a focus on a particular subject area. Return visits to your favourite museum, then, can enhance learning across a variety of subject areas at different times.

In an article on museum settings as opportunities for sensory and aesthetic encounters in learning, David Raymond Bell of the College of Education at the University of Otago noted that “sensory discovery in museums is fun, and may enhance learning and positive attitudes in other curriculum subjects”. Seeking museum experiences therefore not only benefits students’ understanding of specific subjects, but attitudes to learning in general.