For many youths, going to a museum still sounds like, “We’re doing something dull that’s supposed to be good for us.” That’s why, for years, program designers have been experimenting with entertaining forms of learning at art museums, science and technology centers and natural history museums – often with rewarding results.
Most of these efforts begin with the premise that youth are actually attracted to what museums can offer. Stephanie Miller, founding director of the Museum Club at the New York State Museum in Albany, N.Y., created a learning enrichment program after noticing a growing number of youths hanging around her museum after school. When she launched a pilot program, the number of youths who showed up was nearly triple what she expected.
“Even though many of the kids were not interested in school, they were still interested in learning,” Miller says.
These programs can be partnerships as well, with existing youth programs providing the youths, and museums providing the activities. For example, the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington runs its Art After School program at local Boys & Girls Clubs.
While the initiatives typically focus on the museum’s discipline – such as art, nature or history – they can also focus on a segment of the local population, such as at-risk youth, specific ethnic groups and disabled children. Most are created because the museums “have detected unmet needs based on their observations or on an assessment of the community’s needs,” according to Jeannine Mjoseth, spokeswoman for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency that awards grants for museum projects.
In fact, the federal budget for fiscal 2009 includes 19 earmarks from the IMLS to educational youth programs at museums, including the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose, Calif., the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art, History and Science in Fresno, Calif., and the Metropolitan Library System in Chicago.
According to a 2007 IMLS study, Museums and Libraries Engaging America’s Youth (www.imls.gov/pdf/YouthReport.pdf), the most effective programs include youth in the design and decision-making processes, actively focus on building and maintaining connections with families and communities, and are characterized by long-term, trusting relationships between youth and staff.
With the knowledge that long-term contact yields results, program managers have increasingly focused on enrolling youths and having them follow courses of study to complete goals over semesters and years, as opposed to one-day or one-week fairs, Mjoseth says. And while the programs tend to focus on a museum’s own exhibits, collections and technology, activities often go on outside the museum, with field trips, fairs, camps, lectures, films and stage performances.
The programs also go beyond having youths absorb information, to having them create their own activities and museum displays, such as those at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
Innovations are also driven by the Association of Children’s Museums (www.childrensmuseums.org), which reports that it has 515 members and offers links to various services and best practices resources. Most are children’s museums, but others are museums that run youth programs.
Funding comes from four primary sources, Mjoseth says: local, state, or federal grants; private donations; entrance fees; and investments. The IMLS study of youth programs showed that entrance fees accounted for 25 percent to 60 percent of museum revenues devoted to such programs.
One pitch for funding is that the benefits of the programs exceed youth enrichment, because they help communities by supplementing local schools and youth programs. “Museums are stepping in to fill voids in the social service network,” says Dewey Blanton, spokesman for the American Association of Museums. In their simplest form, the programs provide safe after-school venues for youth.
Connected by a River: Plants, Animals, and People
Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC)
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Bettendorf, Iowa
(563) 336-3331
http://www.ateec.org
Strategy: Teach youth in kindergarten through 12th grade how plants, animals and people use and interact with the life-giving forces of the Mississippi River basin, and help them use science for personal and public decision-making. To deliver information to students in a wide area of northeastern Iowa, a consortium developed five learning modules – formatted for Web-based or CD delivery – that combine science, language arts and social studies to teach the historical, cultural and environmental significance of the Mississippi River.
Getting Started: The CD was produced in 2003 by the Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) to help students and teachers learn more about the importance of rivers and to stimulate their interest in science and environmental issues.
The two-year collaboration that produced the CD was led by the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD). Partners included the Putnam Museum/Nahant Marsh Educational Center, Advanced Technology Environmental Education Library of Scott Community College, several K-12 libraries, the Davenport Public Library, 10 schools, the Area Education Agency, River Action and ATEEC.
How It Works: The five modules examine the Mississippi River’s life forms and habitats, manmade structures, wetlands, pollution, and Nahant Marsh. A multimedia slide show incorporates video conferencing, simulations and video streaming that permits students to connect with other schools and local experts. The format allows teachers to customize presentations for their individual classrooms.
Students can download a personal computer version of the material without charge from the organization’s website, or PC and Mac hard copies can be ordered online for $5. An online survey tracks participants’ responses to the CD, and program staff members record the number of times the program is downloaded.
Youth Served: Connected by a River was designed for middle school students and was used by between 1,000 and 5,000 students in its first year, according to a study by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The modules are intended for use by a wider age group and for incorporation into other projects and activities.
The United Neighbors Protecting the Environment and Earth’s Resources (PEER) Project has used the Connected by a River CD to teach inner-city youth about environmental and conservation issues.
Money: The collaboration that led to the creation of Connected by a River was funded by a $230,000 grant from the IMLS. The National Science Foundation, which regularly provides funding for ATEEC, also provided financial support. ATEEC staff members could not identify how much the National Science Foundation had contributed or specify the total cost of production.
Results: The Putnam Museum and the Nahant Marsh Education Center, both in Davenport, have had substantial increases in attendance and in the use of their resources by students and teachers who participated in the project or had access to the CD.
Results from pilot sites indicate that the material increased students’ knowledge of the Mississippi River and their sense of environmental responsibility.
Museum Team
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Brooklyn, N.Y.
(718) 735-4400
http://www.brooklynkids.org
The Strategy: Provide free after-school, weekend and summer academic and leadership services that invite at-risk youth to participate in a ladder of learning experiences. The tiered program allows students to “grow up” in the museum and in their Brooklyn communities.
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Artistic strategy: Draw younger children into the Kids Crew program, then move them to service projects and even museum jobs as they get older. Photo: Brooklyn Children’s Museum |
Getting Started: In the late 1980s, staff members noticed that the museum had become a hot spot for area children, even though there were no special programs for them. Kids Crew was launched in 1987 with a grant from the Altman Foundation, serving second- through eighth-graders from poor families. Other programs were added to keep those youths coming to the museum as they aged out of the first program.
How It Works: The program is designed to become more challenging as the participants grow up.
Students in second through eighth grades begin in Kids Crew, which
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provides hands-on activities designed around the museum’s special collections and media resources. The children learn cultural history, natural science and the performing and visual arts. Some work with local artists and scientists to learn playwriting, textile arts, dance, botany and astronomy.
Teenagers participate in community service projects and college or career preparation workshops. High school underclassmen help set up the museum’s galleries and can serve as program assistants and contemplate their careers through field trips with local professionals. Juniors and seniors mentor younger children entering the program and apprentice with museum staff members in the exhibit galleries.
Youth Served: More than 800 a year from throughout New York City, but most of the participants live within 10 blocks of the museum.
Staff: Three educators and one coordinator are in charge of the programs for younger students, while two educators and one coordinator run programs for teens. Staff members from the museum’s education department regularly offers classes for youth.
Money: The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development provides most of the funding.
Results: According to a 1995 evaluation by the U.S. Department of Education, After-School, Weekend, And Summer Kids Crew Programs (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Extending/vol2/prof5.html), Kids Crew fosters social skills and problem-solving techniques and teaches participants to work together and resolve disputes without adult involvement.
