It's all about making a connection.

I've had my eye on the Museums and Galleries in Education MA at the Institute of Education, London for quite some time.  It took me coming to Australia and being at a loose end after a couple of weeks in Sydney to realise that I could be independently studying without the structure and potential restrictions that studying a prescribed course can bring.

On Friday 10th October 2014 I embarked on the first stage of my self directed study by visiting the State Library of New South Wales. I'll skip the boring part of the books and chapters I devoured but skip straight to what I found interesting and what ideas it led me to. 

I started by reading about the issues that museums face in the 21st century and the reasons behind why people visit museums, galleries and heritage sites. I agree with the theory that while once the sole purpose of museums and galleries was to preserve the collections they house, the purpose of these establiments today is to educate their users. Interestingly education was their purpose when they were first established at the beginning of the 19th century. 

Alongside this I found that there are three reasons that users visit museums/galleries/heritage sites which are: Enjoy, Talk, Do (as cited in Transforming Museums in the 21st Century by Graham Black).  Enjoy links to being entertained, talk 'provides a focal point for socialising and interacting' and as do suggests, this allows people be become involved by contributing, perhaps creatively.

While the prime reason to attend museums/galleries/heritage sites at one time would have been solely to enjoy, with the rise of the internet and digital technology, people are engaging far more in all 3 pursuits and institutions must make the most of digital technology and social networks to keep users engaged.

When I visited the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Sydney, I was impressed by their app which is available on both Apple and Android devices.  The features which caught my attention were the ability to type in the number of selected pieces of art which then showed the details and description on my phone and I could add favourites to My Gallery. I was also able to find the location of the selected piece of art and share an image via social networks. Because the description was share with the use of digital technology (even though they were exactly the same words as printed on the wall), I read more and subsequently learnt more. 

It wasn't until I visited the Australian Museum that I had a big eureka moment though. We started on the top floor of the 3 storey building, purely because this floor housed the dinosaurs. The first couple of galleries entitled 'Surviving Australia' and 'Extinction Gallery' impressed me with their displays, putting the 'stuffed animal in a box' approach to one side and showing a variety of live animals (which I've never seen in a traditional museum before), stuffed animals in context as well as in unexpected places, for example climbing walls. 

The curatorship made the displays engaging as they were either recognisable or unexpected. I guess this was the first step of making a connection with the audience although at this point I didn't recognise that - only that I was engaged. 

Beyond the dinosaurs - which always seem to appeal whatever the context - was a space to explore dinosaurs further and I noticed the only displays which attracted users were thise which required some sort of interaction, whether it was designing your own dinosaur on a touch screen computer, spinning a wheel of fortune type of display, digging in a sand pit or choosing which video to watch. 

We then passed through a couple more rooms where birds, insects and gems were displayed 'tradtionally', piled behind glass with no context. Here I noticed there was little engagement and felt the learning opportunities were missed. 

It wasn't until the final room where the skeletons were displayed that I exclaimed 'it's all about making a connection!' Yes, there were a few skeletons in cabinets but there was also a human skeleton trying to control the skeleton of a bucking horse, a cycling skeleton which mimicked the movements of the human driven cycle in front and a variety of household skeletons in context. 

It was here that I made an important realisation - these displays made a connection with the audience.  They placed the artefacts in recognisable contexts.  In front of the lounge of skeletons I started lesson planning - what animals to the skeletons belong to? How do you know? What do they have in common? How are they different? All of theses are easy to answer because they have a known (and amusing) starting point. They could be built on to more why questions to extend learning and understanding.  

All of these discoveries confirmed my area of interest for study. Luckily in my degree course we were able to pick our own dissertation title and so I was thinking in the same vein for a new title for a piece of written work. Ultimately I'd like to write an essay entitled 'Why is it important to educate children in museums, art galleries and heritage sites? What is the most effective way of doing this?'