Posted on October 15, 2006

print  e-mail

Education Role of Museums Growing in Importance

As issues such as global climate change and evolution increasingly dominate public debate, museums are finding their role as educators growing in importance, the Boston Globe reports.

According to Neil Shubin, provost at the Field Museum in Chicago, institutions such as his and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City have the collections and staff necessary to educate the hundreds of thousands of people who visit those institutions every year. And while a lack of technology hampered their ability to do so in the past, the advent of the Internet has created teaching opportunities that extend beyond their walls, added Robert Sullivan, associate director for public programs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Jeff Rudolph, president of the California Science Center in Los Angeles and a former chairman of the American Association of Museums believes institutions like his are making their programming more relevant to current events. "There is a clear understanding in museums," he added, "that our role in education is significantly expanding, particularly within science institutions." Next year, the American Museum of Natural History will mount an exhibit on water, in part because of a survey it sponsored that revealed how little the public knows about the subject — or science in general.

In its efforts to provide more education programs, the American Museum of Natural History has reached out to schools and partnered with other science institutions to help students with research and provide training opportunities to teachers. Still, said Ellen Futter, the museum's president, "There is no area of education that is probably worse taught than science. I am deeply concerned about the competitive capacity of this country going forward in terms of education generally and in the areas of science, math, [and] engineering particularly."

Hajela, Deepti. “Surveys Shape Museum Exhibits on Science.” Associated Press 10/02/06.

Primary Subject: Arts and Culture
Secondary Subject(s): Education
Location(s): National

FC009604