The Museum Educator's Manual: Educators Share Successful Techniques

by Anna Johnson, Kimberly Huber

The role of education in museums has increasingly become a major professional concern. Engaging, informative, and even entertaining programs can make an enormous difference in a museum's popularity, bringing in visitors of all ages, from the local community and beyond. The proliferation of recent publications on museum education and the promotion of workshops and training seminars for museum staff have reinforced the need for creativity, excellence, and accountability in museum educational programs. The Museum Educator's Manual addresses the role museum educators play in today's museums from an experience-based perspective. Seasoned museum educators author each chapter, emphasizing key programs along with case studies that provide successful examples, and demonstrate a practical foundation for the daily operations of a museum education department_no matter how small. The book covers volunteer management and training; exhibit design; program and event design and implementation; working with families, seniors, and teens; collaborating with schools and other institutions; and funding. With invaluable checklists, schedules, organizational charts, program examples, and other how-to documents included throughout, The Museum Educator's Manual is a 'must have' book for any museum educator.

Genres: Museums, Museology, Nonfiction, Textbooks

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[char · Rating 3 out of 5]

a nice collection of essays, especially regarding the logistical side of things. I would have appreciated more about the actual implementation of programs (eg pedagogy) and things more relevant to other, newer, smaller, etc museums. but otherwise very nice!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed this time, but will be coming back to this one as a good resource. Be sure to get the updated version.

[Tiff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dense but insightful! I liked the examples

[Rachel Sheffield]

A great starting place for museum professionals.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I figured it was time for some career-specific professional development reading. This was the first book I found that looked promising. It's definitely niche -- books are hard to find and I had to interlibrary loan request this one.

This wasn't all directly relatable to what I do. Most of the people writing essays here are from more traditional curated exhibit museums. Some essays were a bit of a slog. But I read every word and wasn't sorry that I did. I ended up with a full page dense with notes. Examples I wanted to try, think over, or discuss -- ideas tangentially sparked by something I'd read, etc.

A greater variety of voices would have been appreciated. Not just because I wanted a voice from a hands-on and/or a children's museum, but because by the end I was thinking to myself, "Yes, the Desert Botanical Museum is awesome, I know," and "Seriously? If I have to read about the Lewis and Clark expedition one more time..."

Still. Good ideas. And tons of example forms that would be very useful to anyone looking to start a program from scratch.

[Fom Singapore · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Museum Educator's Manual is divided into three main parts: Training and Management, Programs and Outreach, and Working with Others. The book is designed to be used by museum educators in a variety of museums (history, art, science, anthropology, botany...) and serves a great starting point for running practical programs, engaging the communities surrounding a museum and providing teaching tools in a museum environment. Strategies, techniques, sample forms and activities all contribute to making this book a very good reference material for new educators and volunteer leaders alike.

[Gort · Rating 2 out of 5]

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[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good how-to book for anyone who has thoughts about working on the exhibit or education side of a museum.