The Pop-Up Museum: How Students Exhibit Critical Literacy Practices Through Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) has become standard practice in STEM classes reflecting a focus on critical thinking and collaborative skills required by the changing workforce. English Language Arts classes should offer more PBL opportunities; however, ELA teachers are often hesitant to implement PBL because of a fear of risk-taking, a concern for turning over curriculum choices to students, an acknowledgement of the role that standardized testing plays on student achievement and teacher accountability, and a lack of professional development training. This phenomenological study examines how 18 students take up critical literacy practices using PBL in the form of a pop-up museum protocol in four secondary ELA classes. Three pop-up museums culminated in students creating and displaying persuasive writing samples and meme artifacts, while one pop-up museum exhibited the findings of service-learning projects. This study revealed overwhelmingly positive accounts of PBL as an instructional approach from the teachers and the student participants. Interviews with two teachers and 18 purposely sampled students revealed that the participants were engaged in deeper, more fulfilling learning. The instructional spaces moved from classrooms as traditional first space locations to ecoscapes like social networks in third space as students created, curated, and hosted museums for their peers and their community. Although time and technology were factors in implementation, ELA classes and other subject areas that adopt the pop-up museum protocol will experience students’ shifts in identity, perception, and dispositions as they express their critical literacy practices

A MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS: A DIGITAL TOOL FOR THE ROYAL ARMOURIES

This report, prepared for the Royal Armouries Education Center located at Her Majesty\u27s Tower of London, describes the creation of three tools to assist archiving and exhibiting of information contained in the White Tower. The tools include a digital archive, a virtual tour, and a virtual Line of Kings exhibit. This project responds to the Royal Armouries\u27 staff\u27s requests for an updated archive and an increase in accessibility by providing better-maintained exhibit records and online access to the White Tower

Assessing the role of collaboration in the process of museum innovation

The relationship between collaboration and innovation in cultural organisations is an emerging topic that has drawn particular attention from scholars and practitioners. The main aim of this study is to assess the role of collaboration in the process of innovation in museum organisations. To achieve this aim, first, we develop a four-domain analytical framework by matching innovation types to cultural production processes to reflect the peculiarities of museum innovation. By applying this framework to the multiple case studies from four Spanish museums, we identify three main motivations (supplementing manpower, compensating for the scarcity of knowledge, improving demand-driven innovation) and four forms of collaboration (teamwork, outsourcing, consortium and conversation) and summarise the different modes of collaboration involved in various domains of production and innovation. An assessment is conducted subsequently to evaluate the effectiveness of existing collaborations in achieving technological and cultural innovation in museums. Finally, a list of implications for museums' innovation management is presented

Augmenting the field experience: a student-led comparison of techniques and technologies

In this study we report on our experiences of creating and running a student fieldtrip exercise which allowed students to compare a range of approaches to the design of technologies for augmenting landscape scenes. The main study site is around Keswick in the English Lake District, Cumbria, UK, an attractive upland environment popular with tourists and walkers. The aim of the exercise for the students was to assess the effectiveness of various forms of geographic information in augmenting real landscape scenes, as mediated through a range of techniques and technologies. These techniques were: computer-generated acetate overlays showing annotated wireframe views from certain key points; a custom-designed application running on a PDA; a mediascape running on the mScape software on a GPS-enabled mobile phone; Google Earth on a tablet PC; and a head-mounted in-field Virtual Reality system. Each group of students had all five techniques available to them, and were tasked with comparing them in the context of creating a visitor guide to the area centred on the field centre. Here we summarise their findings and reflect upon some of the broader research questions emerging from the project

Shaking Heritage

Any moment the earth can shake, but we do not know when or where. If it happens, our Heritage might be in danger. Shaking Heritage addresses the topic of the seismic vulnerability of museum collections. It develops a way to assess the seismic risks for movable Heritage, proposing a synthetic method to rate the vulnerable settings. It discusses the necessity of integrating museography and anti-seismic solutions for museums and exhibitions, and studies exhibit solutions that would improve the seismic safety of collections and setups. It stresses the necessity of constructing shared guidelines and policies for the safety of the movable Heritage. Shaking Heritage is a step forward in acknowledging the importance of the anti-seismic culture among museum institutions and researchers