museum schools.

Are very cool.
Michael L. Bentley in Lord's Manual of Museum Learning says there are 40 something museum schools in the United States. Sad, because the American Association of Museums (AAM) says there are currently around 17,500 museums in the states. Many, if not all these museums pride themselves as a space for learning. Wouldn't strong partnerships with schools be intrinsic and reflective in their initiatives?

Museum schools are either located at the museum or visit on a regular basis. One awesome school: The Community High School in Virgina has partnerships with 12 local institutions including a zoo, park, theater and ballet center! Educators from these cultural institutions participate in The Community Schools' dedication to "encourage students to engage in a broader cultural conversation, to understand Art as a means of inquiry."

It is easy to say - BRILLIANT and FanTasmic!! Museums, zoos, cultural institutions and libraries world wide should have schools! But 14 out of 17,500 introduces a more complicated discussion. To begin with, museums are defined as spaces for informal learning and transferring this kind of learning to a formal setting, all while maintaining informal learning's spontaneity and experimental learning is challenging. Not to mention, schools in the museum culture and context are often reduced to one-off experiences such as fieldtrip visits and maybe an afterschool program. Museums are higher institutions and schools house dirty little kids. Also, the spirit of collaboration and community is instilled in museum school concepts and that may be a bit too much for museums. Lord says it best,

"In this search for the best balance between formal and informal learning, the museum school is perhaps the most fascination - and most radical - partnerships between museums and traditional schools. In the museum school, a different mindset emerges in the classroom, with children utilizing museum processes of knowledge generation - the y become active rather than passive learners. Although museum schools are too new and the research too embryonic to draw definitive conclusions, these children are more likely to emerge as critical thinkers and problem solvers who will pursue life long learning, which is the ideal in a creative knowledge-based economy" (p. 96).