Talking about Cultural Exhibitions at Interactivity 2007

Presentation:

   Go here to download a PDF version of Eric Gyllenhaal's part of the presentation (without his notes).

   Go here to download the entire 1.5 Mb PowerPoint with notes for Eric Gyllenhaal's part of the presentation.

Additional Resources:

   Go here to download a PDF of Jeanne Vergeront's 2003 paper: Overview of Developmental Frameworks.

   Go here to download a copy of the generalized development framework for planning cultural exhibits for children.  
   This is a Microsoft Word 2000 file, and it opens as a separate window.

   Go here to download a copy of the generalized knowledge hierarchy about children's understandings about other
   countries and cultures.  This is a Microsoft Word 2000 file, and it opens as a separate window.

   These documents are explained in more detail in the PowerPoint version of our talk from Interactivity 2007.

   Go here to download two papers about knowledge hierarchies.

   Coming soon:  Bibliographies on child development and children's understanding of culture.

Go East! Research Project at Interactivity 2007

Presentation:

   Go here to download the entire PowerPoint with notes for the presentation.

   Go here to download a PDF version of the presentation without notes.  

     
 
Learning from Go East! at Interactivity 2006

What has the children’s museum field learned from Go East, the Asian Exhibit Initiative, and how should this knowledge be disseminated and put into practice?  On April 24, 2006, Selinda Research Associates asked that question of participants in a brown bag session at Interactivity 2006.  What we found out at that session will help us decide how to preserve and extend what we’ve learned from the Go East research and evaluation efforts.  This web page is designed to share some of the materials from that session.  

The Go East initiative is funded by the Freeman Foundation and administered by the Association of Children's Museums.  It was created to give children and families the opportunity to "Go East" and experience the cultures of Asia.  Go here to learn more about Go East.

This page includes:

• The "slides" from the presentation.  The presentation briefly describes the Go East research study; explains developmental frameworks and knowledge hierarchies and shows how you can use them; lists other topics included in our research; and includes materials for the break out session.  The PowerPoint version is about 1 Mb in size, and it opens as a separate window.  Go here to see the PowerPoint file.  The PDF version is about 100 Kb.  Go here to see the presentation as a PDF file.  (This third version of the presentation includes revised notes.  To see the notes, you need to download the PowerPoint file.  Windows users can right click on the blue underlined link, choose "Save Target As...," and then save it as a file on their computer.)
    
• A generalized development framework for planning cultural exhibits and programs for children.  We hope children's museums will use this framework as a starting point for making their own developmental frameworks, adapted to their needs.  This is a Microsoft Word 2000 file, and it opens as a separate window.  Go here to see this file.  (To save this as a Word file, Windows users can right click on the blue underlined link, choose "Save Target As...," and then save it as a file on their computer.)
    
• A generalized knowledge hierarchy about children's understandings about other countries and cultures.  We hope children's museums will try this hierarchy on their own cultural exhibitions, or use it as a starting point for developing a hierarchy that more closely fits their needs.  This is a Microsoft Word 2000 file, and it opens as a separate window.  Go here to see this file.

If you use any of these materials for any purpose, we would love to hear how things turn out.  Please contact us at GoEast@SelindaResearch.com to let us know what happened.

Look for updated versions of these documents as we receive and incorporate your feedback.

Please consult the following online papers to see examples of other knowledge hierarchies:

Gyllenhaal, E. D., Perry, D. L., & Forland, E. (1996). Visitor understandings about research, collections, and behind-the-scenes at the Field Museum. Current Trends in Audience Research and Evaluation, 10, 22-32.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.

Perry, D. L., Garibay, C., & Gyllenhaal, E. D. (1998). Front-end evaluation for Life Underground, a Field Museum exhibition about life in the soil. Current Trends in Audience Research and Evaluation, 11, 59-67.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.

Here's a link to an online paper by Gail Ringel entitled, " Designing Exhibits for Kids: What Are We Thinking?" It describes (among other things) the Boston Children's Museum's experience developing their Go East! exhibition, Five Friends from Japan:  www.getty.edu/education/symposium/Ringel.pdf.  The paper was presented at a Getty symposium, From Content to Play: Family-Oriented Interactive Spaces in Art and History Museums, described here: http://www.getty.edu/education/symposium/ 

Some participants in our session said they hoped to continue the discussion on CHILDMUS, which is an online forum and e-mail list for children's museum professionals.  Here's the CHILDMUS homepage, where you can both subscribe or get access to the archives:  https://mailman.rice.edu/mailman/listinfo/childmus 
  

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