This week we look back at the research of 2016-2017  Museum Education Fellow Chris Moyer. Chris deve

This week we look back at the research of 2016-2017  Museum Education Fellow Chris Moyer. Chris developed public programs for First Saturdays and the monthly “Artist’s Eye” series as well as taught guided gallery visits with a focus on engaging art through the lens of pedagogy, access, and space.For his research, Chris examined the museum building and asked how the building itself can be a tool for place-based learning. Here Chris discusses his research process and findings.“My research was born out of teaching here at the Brooklyn Museum where museum educators use inquiry-based, student-centered, learning to discuss concepts of art, identity, politics, and the environment. When students come to the museum, they are often enamored and intrigued by our building, yet we as educators don’t facilitate an exploration of the building to the same degree with which we investigate objects in our collection. This prompted me to ask the question, ‘How does an exploration of the building support and further develop inquiry-based learning in museums?’”I drew from my background in architectural history as well as the understanding that museums are historically spaces built on inequalities. Through archival research and interviews I developed a framework for teaching that facilitates learning that highlights spatial awareness and inspires students to question their own surroundings beyond the museum walls. I believe that the museum building should be understood as a catalyst of curiosity just like other collection objects. When leading a group of students through the museum I asked,“What does the floor feel like?” or “What does my echo tell you about this space?”These questions transform the museum building into the ultimate touch object while encouraging students to consider their surroundings as fertile grounds for everyday learning.  I developed a Place-Based Learning learning lesson where students examined geometric shapes both in Faith Ringgold’s Early Works #25: Self-Portrait and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Manhattan as well as the Brooklyn Museum’s Beaux-Arts Court. In another lesson I asked the question, “In what ways do people claim space? Why?” With this question I wanted students to consider questions of family and community lineage to physical spaces such as a home.From my research I found that inquiry-based learning can easily be transferred from our collection to the museum building. I encourage the Brooklyn Museum to offer guided Gallery Visits exclusively of the building and to continue to envision ways in which museums can be radical spaces of intellectual and spatial exploration.Posted by Katherine Kusiak Carey and Chris Moyer -- source link

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