Creating a Student-Run Museum in Your Classroom
Letting students establish a museum exhibit with everyday items offers an opportunity to sharpen their storytelling skills.
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The standard school field trip often includes an outing to a museum, but a new resource provides guidance on how to bring a museum into the classroom. As part of the Mobile Museum Project, the Royal Holloway, University of London, and the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens teamed up to create a . The project, which can be used for any age group, turns the premise of a museum on its head: 鈥淭he primary aim of object-based learning should be to learn from rather than about 辞产箩别肠迟蝉.鈥澛�
Asking questions such as, 鈥淲hat do you want people to learn and why?鈥� and 鈥淲ho are you hoping to attract and why?鈥� helps students formulate the purpose of their exhibit. Collecting the objects for the museum is a learning process in and of itself: 鈥渃ulturally significant鈥� objects, such as an item passed down through a family or an item from a student鈥檚 home country, can prompt storytelling and help students build a sense of historical understanding and empathy. Make sure students document important information about each item; the curriculum suggests recording at least 鈥渢he date it was collected, where it came from, and a brief description of the object.鈥�
Once gathered, students can practice thematic grouping by sorting the items into different categories, 鈥渟cientific, thematic, or geographic,鈥� before organizing the collection for final display. Students might be asked to create an illustrative series to show the relationship between items. For example, a display description might trace the evolution of an object: 鈥淐otton boll to spun cotton thread to t-shirt.鈥� Designing and writing labels provides another way to incorporate storytelling into the curation process.聽
Promoting and launching the student-created museum is fun and a great opportunity for parent and community engagement: 鈥淢useums often 鈥榣aunch鈥� their exhibitions by holding a special event (sometimes referred to as a 鈥榩rivate view鈥�) to which they invite various stakeholders and the media.鈥� Encourage students to think about ways visitors might interact with the exhibits. 鈥淩esist the temptation to have a series of speeches,鈥� the handbook cautions. 鈥淭here are other ways of creating a sense of inclusion and you don鈥檛 want to slow down the momentum of your event.鈥澛�
After the project鈥檚 completion, be sure to solicit feedback. Did students learn new things from the items? Students can collaborate to explore 鈥渨hat worked and what didn鈥檛 work, and what might be done differently next time.鈥� Reflecting on the successes and failures of the project gives students an opportunity to critically assess their own work.聽
The museum concept is a broad framework that can be used鈥攁nd modified鈥斅爐o integrate different subjects.