1. An Experiment in Museum Instruction.
- Author
-
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH. and Bloomberg, Marguerite
- Abstract
Various lesson plans for museum instruction were tested on fifth grade children of fair and high intelligence in an attempt to improve upon the "accepted method" of teaching, which was thought to be better suited to the child of low intelligence than to his abler classmates. The lesson plans tested were: (1) the accepted method (teacher-presentation of all material), (2) interest as a guide (each child followed his own inclination), (3) question and investigation (the interest of the child was stimulated by pertinent questions), (4) fairy story method, (5) a comparison of the life and art of two ancient civilizations, (6) an introduction to the gallery experience by slides and a lecture, (7) schoolroom preparation before the museum visit (either a day ahead or a week ahead), (8) drawing method (the child answered questions by drawing), and (9) the instructive story method. The material chosen for the study was Egyptian. For children of high intelligence, plans 7 (one-week preparation), 3, 8, and 7 (one-day preparation) were of most value, in that order. For children of fair intelligence, plans 3, 8, and 7 (one-day preparation), in that order, were markedly superior. One of the general observations was that too much material was presented at a single lesson in all of the plans. New plans and further experiments are suggested. (MF)
- Published
- 1929