Perspectives on Object-Centered Learning in Museums

✍ Scribed by Scott G. Paris

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 406
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Originating in a recent NSF conference held at the University of Michigan, this book examines the latest ideas about how children interact with objects and through that interaction acquire new understandings, attitudes, and feelings. Although museum education provides the primary setting within which object-centered learning is explored, the analyses apply to a wide range of learning environments. Despite the demonstrated importance of object-centered learning for both academic and life-long learning, until now there has been little psychological research on the topic. Key features of this outstanding new book include: Cross-disciplinary Focus --This is the first book to examine object-centered learning using the perspectives of such diverse fields as science, history, literacy, and art. Museum Focus --The explosion of interest in museums of all kinds provides a natural launching pad for conceptual and practical discussions of object-based learning and informal learning environments. Vignettes --In order to ground the conceptual analyses, each chapter includes vignettes describing people actively engaged with objects in a specific setting. This volume is appropriate for advanced students and researchers in educational psychology, cognitive psychology, science education, and persons directly involved in museum education.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 8
Foreword......Page 10
Preface......Page 16
Acknowledgments......Page 20
List of Contributors......Page 22
PART I Studying Learning With Objects in Contexts......Page 24
CHAPTER ONE The Role of Context in Children’s Learning from Objects and Experiences......Page 26
CHAPTER TWO The Role of Objects in Active, Distributed Meaning-Making......Page 42
CHAPTER THREE Children Learning with Objects in Informal Learning Environments......Page 60
CHAPTER FOUR The Authentic Object? A Child’s-Eye View......Page 78
CHAPTER FIVE When the Object is Digital: Properties of Digital Surrogate Objects and Implications for Learning......Page 102
CHAPTER SIX Through the Garden Gate: Objects and Informal Education for Environmental and Cultural Awareness in Arboreta and Botanic Gardens......Page 118
CHAPTER SEVEN Epistemological Issues about Objects......Page 136
PART II Discipline-Based Explorations of Objects......Page 142
CHAPTER EIGHT Learning with, Through, and About Art: The Role of Social Interactions......Page 144
CHAPTER NINE Placing Objects Within Disciplinary Perspectives: Examples from History and Science......Page 176
CHAPTER TEN Fostering an Investigatory Stance: Using Text to Mediate Inquiry with Museum Objects......Page 194
CHAPTER ELEVEN Objects and Learning: Understanding Young Children’s Interaction with Science Exhibits......Page 214
CHAPTER TWELVE Reading Objects......Page 238
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Cloaking Objects in Epistemological Practices......Page 258
PART III Conversations About Objects......Page 266
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Object-Based Learning and Family Groups......Page 268
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Maps, Globes, and Videos: Parent-Child Conversations about Representational Objects......Page 284
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Pathways Among Objects and Museum Visitors......Page 308
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Objects of Learning, Objects of Talk: Changing Minds in Museums......Page 324
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Leveling the Playing Field through Object-Based Service Learning......Page 348
CHAPTER NINETEEN The Object of Experience......Page 374
B......Page 388
D......Page 389
G......Page 390
J......Page 391
M......Page 392
P......Page 393
S......Page 394
W......Page 395
Z......Page 396
A......Page 398
C......Page 400
E......Page 401
I......Page 402
R......Page 403
S......Page 404
Z......Page 406