Applied Art (ICAA)• Mrs Catherine ARMINJON,Conseiller scientifique auprès du Directeur de la Caissenationale des Monuments historiques et des Sites, Hôtel de Sully, 62 rue Saint Antoine, 75004 Paris, France.Tel.: (33 1) 44 61 20 14. Fax: (33 1) 44 61 20 36.• Dr Elisabeth SCHMUTTERMEIER, Österr. Museum fürAngewandte Kunst, Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria.Tel.: (43 1) 711 36 234. Fax: (43 1) 711 36 222.

Archaeology & History (ICMAH)• Mr Yannis TZEDAKIS, Director, Dept. of Antiquities, Ministry of Culture, 20 Bouboulinas St., Athens 10186, Greece.Tel.: (30 1) 8201 259, 8201 261, 8201 262.Fax: (30 1) 8201 260.• Mrs Michèle PERISSIERE, Conservateur, Mémorial, Un Musée pour la Paix, EsplanadeEisenhower, B. P. 6261, 14066 Caen Cedex, France.Tel.: (33 2) 31 06 06 44. Fax: (33 2) 31 06 06 70.

Architecture & Museum Techniques (ICAMT)• Mrs Ersi PHILIPPOPOULOU-MICHAILIDOU, Director of Museum Studies, Ministry of Culture, 12 Karytsi Sq., 10186 Athens, Greece.Tel.: (30 1) 322 8931. Fax: (30 1) 643 9570.• Mr E. J. A. V. VERSCHUUREN, Museumconsultent Noord-Brabant, Reitse Hœventraat 30 A,5042 EH Tilburg, The Netherlands.Tel.: (31 13) 632 120. Fax: (31 13) 675 912.

Audiovisual and New Technologies (AVICOM)• Mr Marco TONON, Direttore, Museo delle Scienze, Via della Motta 16, 33170 Pordenone, Italy.Tel. (39 434) 392 315. Fax: (39 434) 26 396.• Mrs Claude-Nicole HOCQUARD, AVICOM, 34 quai du Louvre, 75038 Paris Cedex 01, France.Tel.: (33 1) 40 20 57 87. Fax: (33 1) 40 20 57 87.

Conservation (ICOM-CC)• Mr David GRATTAN, Senior Conservation Scientist, Canadian Conservation Institute1030 Innes Rd, Ottawa, ONT K1A OM5, CanadaTel.: (1 613) 998 37 21. Fax: (1 631) 998 47 21.• Ms Françoise ROSIER, Institut Royal du Patrimoine artistique, 1 Parc duCinquantenaire, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.: (33 2) 739 67 11. Fax: (33 2) 732 01 05.

Costume• Ms Mariliina PERKKO, Director, Espoo City Museum, Ylisrinne 10 A 3, 02210 Espoo, Finland.Tel.: (358 0) 869 69 99. Fax: (358 0) 869 69 79.• Mrs Françoise TETART-VITTU, Musée de la mode et du costume, Palais Galliera, 10 av. Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75116 Paris, France.Tel.: (33 1) 47 20 85 23. Fax: (33 1) 47 23 58 37.

Documentation (CIDOC)• Ms Jeanne HOGENBOOM, Bureau IMC, Eendrachtsweg 37, 3012 LC Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: (31 10) 411 70 70. Fax: (31 10) 411 60 36. Email: buroimc@euronet.nl• Ms Patricia YOUNG, Chief, Documentation Research, Canadian HeritageInformation Network, Dept. of Canadian Heritage, 15 Eddy St., 4th Floor, Hull, Quebec K1A OM5 Canada.Tel.: (1 819) 994 12 00. Fax: (1 819) 994 95 55.E-mail: pat-young@pch.gc.ca; pyong@chin.gc.ca.

Education & Cultural Action (CECA)• Mrs Nicole GESCHE-KONING, Am Anger 3, 82544 Egling, Germany.Tel.: (49) 81 76 72 76. Fax: (49) 81 76 72 76.• Ms Dorothee DENNERT, Stifung Haus der Geschichte der BRD, Adenauerallee 250,53113 Bonn, Germany.Tel.: (49 228) 916 51 13. Fax: (49 228) 916 53 00, 916 53 02.

Egyptology (CIPEG)• Ms Rita E. FREED, Curator, Dept. of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near EasternArt, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston MA 02115, U.S.A.Tel.: (1 617) 267 93 00. Fax: (1 617) 267 02 80.• Dr Regine SCHULZ, Scientific Collaborator, Roemer-und-Pelizaeus Museum, Am Steine 1-2, 31134 Hildesheim, Germany.Tel.: (49 51 21) 936 915. Fax: (49 51 21) 35 283.

Ethnography (ICME)• Mr Per KÅKS, Museum Director, Folkens Museum Etnografiska, P.O. Box 27140, 10252 Stockholm, Sweden.Tel.: (46 8) 666 50 00. Fax: (46 8) 666 50 70.• Mr Per B. REKDAL, Director,Ethnogaphic Museum, University of Oslo, Frederiksgate 2, 0164 Oslo, Norway.Tel.: (47) 2285 99 61. Fax: (47) 2285 99 60.Email: p.b.rekdal@ima.uio.no.

Exhibition Exchange (ICEE)• Ms Sandra LORIMER, Director, Exhibition & Design, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 100 Laurier St., P.O. Box 3100, Station B, Hull, Quebec J8X 4H2, Canada.Tel.: (1 819) 776 83 15. Fax: (1 819) 776 82 09.Email: sandy.lorimer@cmcc.muse.digital.ca.• Ms Shirley Reiff HOWARTH, The Humanities Exchange, P.O. Box 1608, Largo FL 34649, U.S.A.Tel.: (1 813) 581 73 28. Fax: (1 813) 585 63 98.

Fine Art (ICFA)• Prof. Dr Hendrik Willem VAN OS, Director General, Rijksmuseum, Postbus 74888, 1070 DN Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Tel.: (31 20) 673 21 21. Fax: (31 20) 679 81 46.• Mr Jacques KUHNMUNCH, Conservateur en chef, Musée national du Château deCompiègne, B.P. 549, 60205 Compiègne Cedex, France.Tel.: (33 3) 44 38 47 00. Fax: (33 3) 44 38 47 01.

Glass• Mr J. Reino LIEFKES, Deputy Curator (Ceramic & Glass) Victoria & AlbertMuseum, Cromwell Rd., South Kensington, London SW7 2RL, U.K.Tel.: (44 171) 938 85 57. Fax: (44 181) 938 85 64.• Dr Jutta Annette BRUHN, Curator, Corning Museum of Glass, One Museum Way,Corning NY 14830-2253 U.S.A.Tel.: (1 607) 975 82 57. Fax: (1 607) 937 33 52.

Literary Museums (ICLM)• Mr Janus ODROWAZ-PIENAZAK, Director, Literary Museum Adam Mickiewicz, Rynek Starego Miasta 20, 00272 Warsaw, Poland.Tel.: (48 22) 317 692. Fax: (48 22) 317 692.• Dr Wolfgang BARTHEL, Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Kleist-Gedenk-und-Forschungsstätte, Faberstrasse 7, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.Tel.: (49 335) 231 85. Fax (49 335) 231 85.

Management (INTERCOM)• Mrs Marta DE LA TORRE, Program Director-Training, The Getty Conservation Institute, 1200 Getty Center Drive,Los Angeles CA 90049-1694 U.S.A.Tel.: (1 310) 440 73 25. Fax: (1 310) 440 77 02.Email: mtorre@getty.edu.• Mr Arnout WEEDA, Director, Rijksmuseum Zuiderzeemuseum, Wierdjik 18 1601 LA Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.Tel.: (31 2280) 102 10. Fax: (31 2280) 102 30.

Marketing & Public Relations (MPR)• Mr Roger SMITH, Manager of Public Programs & MarketingNew Zealand Maritime Museum, P.O. Box 3141, Auckland,New ZealandTel.: (64 9) 358 10 19. Fax: (64 9) 377 60 00.Email: roger@waimuse.org.nz.• Ms Barbara HOPE, Head of Education & Public Programmes, National Museums and Galleies on Meseyside, P.O. Box 33, 127 Dale St., Liverpool L69 3LA, U.K.Tel.: (44 151) 478 46 11. Fax: (44 151) 478 47 77.Email: bhope@nmgepp1.demon.co.uk.

Modern Art (CIMAM)• Dr Rudolf Herman FUCHS, Director, Stedelijk Museum, Paulus Potterstraat 13, 1071 CXAmsterdam, The Netherlands.Tel.: (31 20) 573 29 11. Fax: (31 20) 675 27 16.• Mr Frits Jan Maria BLESS, Director, Gemeentelijk Van Reekum Museum, Churchillplein2, 7314 BZ Apeldoor, The Netherlands. Tel.: (31 55) 219 155. Fax: (31 55) 225 456.

Museology (ICOFOM)• Dr Martin R. SCHÄRER, Directeur, Alimentarium, Musée de l'alimentation, B.P. 13, 1800 Vevey, Switzerland.Tel.: (41 21) 924 41 11. Fax: (41 21) 924 45 63.• Mrs Mathilde BELLAIGUE, Laboratoire de Recherche des Musées de France, 6 rue des Pyramides, 75041 Paris Cedex 01, France. Tel.: (33 1) 40 20 56 52. Fax: (33 1) 47 03 32 46.

Musical Instruments (CIMCIM)• Prof. Sumi GUNJI, Pr. Emeritus, Kunitachi College of Music, 7-19-42 Sunagawa-cho, Tachikawa-shi, Tokyo 190, Japan.Fax: (81 425) 36 60 19. Fax: (81 425) 36 60 19• Miss Margaret BIRLEY, Asst. Keeper of Musical Instruments, The HornimanMuseum, London Rd, London SE23 3PQ, U.K.Tel.: (44 181) 699 18 72 ext. 133. Fax: (44 181) 291 55 06.Email: birley@horniman.demon.co.uk.

Natural History (NATHIST)• Prof. Andreas STEIGEN, University of Bergen, Centre for Studies of Environment & Resources,Hoyteknologisenteret, 5020 Bergen, Norway.Tel.: (47 55) 544 242. Fax: (47 55) 324 801.Email: andreas.steigen@smr.uib.no.• Dr Anne Marie SLEZEK, Direction, Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France. Tel.: (33 1) 40 79 32 26. Fax: (33 1) 40 79 34 84.

Numismatics (ICOMON)• Dr Mando OECONOMIDES, Director, Numismatic Museum, Tositsa 1, 10682 Athens, Greece. Tel.: (30 1) 821 77 69. Fax: (30 1) 821 69 26.• Ms Christiane LOGIE, Conservateur en Chef, Musée numismatique et historique, Banque nationale de Belgique, 5 bd de Berlaimont, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.: (32 2) 221 20 42. Fax (32 2) 221 31 60.

Regional Museums (ICR)• Drs Margriet LESTRADEN,Lestraden Museum Consultancy,Willemstraat 51 A, 2514 HK Den Haag, The Netherlands.Tel. & Fax : (31 70) 361 53 35.• Mr Roy HOIBO,Curator, Ryfylkemuseet, 4230 Sand, Norway.Tel. : (52) 797 377. Fax : (52) 797 889.

Science & Technology (CIMUSET)Dr J. Patrick GREENE OBE, Director, Museum of Science & Industry, Liverpool Rd,Castlefield, Manchester M3 4FP, U.K.Tel.: (44 161) 832 22 44. Fax: (44 161) 833 21 84.Email: greene@mussci.smart.co.uk.• Dr Michael DAUSKARDT, Direktor, Westfalisches Freilichtmuseum Hagen,Mackingerbach, 58091 Hagen, Germany.Tel.: (49 2331) 780 710. Fax: (49 2331) 780 720.

Security (ICMS)• Dr Phil Gunther DEMBSKI, Museum Security Adviser, Kunsthistorisches Museum,Burgring 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria.Tel.: (43 1) 521 77 380. Fax: (43 1) 521 77 501.E-mail: khm@pandora.pan.at.• Mr David LISTON, Protection Training/Outreach Officer, Office of Protection Services, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 924, 955 L'Enfant Plaza, Suite P105, Washington DC 20560 U.S.A.Tel.: (1 202) 287 25 85. Fax: (1 202) 287 25 89.Email: ops1.listond@ic.si.edu.

Training of Personnel (ICTOP)• Prof Martin SEGGER, Director, Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700, Victoria B.C. V8W 2Y2, Canada.Tel.: (1 604) 721 82 95. Fax: (1 604) 721 89 97.Email: msegger1@sol.uvic.ca.• Mr Christopher NEWBERY, Director, Museum Training Institute, First Floor, Glyde House, Glydegate, Bradford BD5 OUP, U.K.Tel.: (44 1274) 391 956. Fax: (44 1274) 394 890.

Comités internationaux de l’ICOM

Cette publication, dont l’édition scientifiquea été assurée par le CECA, est financée parICOM/Division du Patrimoine culturel del'UNESCO/Direction des Musées de France.

ICOM International Committees

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS

CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

Cahiersd’étudeStudyseries

Cahiers d’étudeComité pour l'éducation et l'action culturelle (CECA)

Study series

Committee for Education and Cultural Action (CECA)

This publication whose editionwas made possible thanks to the CECA, isfunded by ICOM /Division of CulturalHeritage, UNESCO/Direction des Musées deFrance.

© ICOM/CECA October 1996ISBN 92-9012-028-2

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS

CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

Saroj GhosePrésident de l’ICOM

Je me réjouis de cette secondeparution des Cahiers d'étude,réalisée par le Comité interna-tional de l'ICOM pour l'éducationet l'action culturelle. Je tiens àremercier tout particulièrement saPrésidente, Nicole Gesché-Koning,pour son travail de coordinationauprès des nombreux auteurs.Cette nouvelle série, si importantepour la promotion du travail scien-tifique effectué par nos Comitésinternationaux, me semble àprésent bien engagée et promise àun bel avenir.

Saroj GhosePresident of ICOM

I am delighted with this secondissue of the Studies Series, whichhas been put together by the ICOM International Committee for Education and Cultural Action.I would especially like to thankNicole Gesché-Koning, Chair-person of the Committee, for allher work co-ordinating with themany different authors. This newpublication series, which is soimportant for promoting the scien-tific work carried out by ourInternational Committees, seemsto me to be well on the way tosecuring a promising future.

1

Saroj Ghose Préface / Foreword 1

Nicole Gesché-KoningLe rôle éducatif des musées à l´aube du XXIe siècleThe Educational Role of Museums towards the XXIst Century 2

Graham CarterThe Wider Role of Museum Educators 3

Catheline Périer-d´IeterenSauvegarde du patrimoine et formation : un défi urgent à relever 5

Dorothee Dennert Reflections on Visitor Research and Training. Are ExhibitionEvaluation and Visitor StudiesRelevant to Docent Training? 8

Colette Dufresne-TasséRéexaminer l´apprentissage duvisiteur pour améliorer sa relation avec l´objet muséal 10

Ross J. Loomis Learning in Museums: Motivation,Control and Meaningfulness 12

George E. HeinWhat Can Museum EducatorsLearn From Constructivist Theory? 13

Michael CassinAteliers de peinture et reconstitutions d'époque : de l´utilité et de l'abus des ateliers au musée 15

Manus BrinkmanDo the Right Thing: MuseumsNeed a More Varied Audiencewhich Education Must Help to Achieve 16

Andreas Grünewaldt-Steiger Advanced Courses in MuseumStudies at the Federal Academy 18

Alison M. HeathNew Technology and itsImplications for Educational Work 19

Poul VestergaardSkoletjenesten, an EducationCentre in Copenhagen. New Challenges towards 2000 21

Tickey PuleLe «Zèbre sur roues», un musée en visite 23

Maria de Lourdes Parreiras HortaHeritage Education: Making the Road through Walking… 24

Yani HerremanQuelques considérations surl´éducation dans les musées des sciences et techniques auMexique 26

Monica LeahyMuseums and Educating for Cultural Tolerance 27

Merethe Frøyland & Doris JordeIs it Possible to Build a BridgeBetween Natural and CulturalHistory Museums? 29

Wafaa El-SaddikUn nouveau musée des enfants à Héliopolis. 30

Yvonne Letouzey Une fleur parmi les pavés.Comment la réalisation d´un projet éducatif a pu avoir raison de tous les obstacles 31

Sommaire - ContentsPréface

Foreword

Editorial – Le rôle éducatif desmusées à l aube duXXIe siècle

Nicole Gesché-KoningPrésidente du

Comité pour l'éducation et l'action culturelle

Le Comité pour l'éducation et l'actionculturelle est heureux de vous pré-senter le deuxième des Cahiers d´étudede l´ICOM, faisant suite au numéroconsacré aux enjeux actuels de laconservation-restauration1. En effet, ladiffusion des messages livrés par lesobjets auprès du public intervientcomme la seconde mission du musée.Déjà en 1922, Jean Capart, fondateurde l´éducation muséale belge, devaitau retour d´un voyage aux Etats-Unis,reconnaître la haute mission d´ensei-gnement du musée et jeter les basesde la muséologie moderne en définis-sant sa double fonction : scientifiqueet tournée vers l´intérieur d´une part,et de communication vers l´extérieurainsi que d´éducation du public2 d´autrepart.

Cette idée d´ouverture du musée adepuis lors fait son chemin, et la mis-sion d´éducation du musée3, aux côtésde celles d´étude et de conservationqui en font sa spécificité, n´est plus àdébattre. Cette valeur éducative lui aété reconnue dès la création de l´ICOMen 1946. Un Comité international pourl´éducation a vu le jour en 1953 ; ildevait dix ans plus tard prendre sonnom actuel de CECA (Comité interna-tional pour l´éducation et l´action cultu-relle), et constituer l'un des cinq pre-miers Comités internationaux del´ICOM. Au fil des ans, le CECA acompté avec le soutien de l´ICOM pourle développement de ses activités4. Ilconstitue aujourd´hui l´un des comitésinternationaux comptant le plus demembres. Leur nombre a plus que tri-plé en vingt ans, et dépasse à présentle millier d´adhérents, dont quelques700 votants.

L´événement majeur de la vie de notrecomité est sans nul doute laConférence internationale annuelle.Parmi les conférences qui ont faitl´objet de publications, signalons cel-les de Svendborg, Danemark (1981),L´exposition comme moyen d´éduca-tion ; de Düsseldorf, Allemagne (1984),Les musées et le monde du travail ; de

Barcelone, Espagne (1985), Le person-nel éducatif et la recherche ; de Nauplieet Athènes, Grèce (1988), Etablir, développer et maintenir les serviceséducatifs des musées ; de Jérusalem,Israël (1991), Le musée et les besoinsdu public ; de Delhi et Calcutta, Inde(1993), Intégration des musées dansune société multiculturelle ; de Cuenca,Equateur (1994), Musées, éducation etpatrimoine naturel, social et culturel(sous presse) ; et enfin celle deStavanger (1995), Musées et commu-nautés (sous presse).

Le CECA a toujours eu à cœur dedévelopper une politique internatio-nale de publications, qu´il s´agisse deson bulletin d´information (Market ofIdeas, devenu la CECA Newsletter), ou de sa revue ICOM Education. LeBureau du CECA s´est donné pourtâche au cours de cette nouvellepériode triennale de publier, sous madirection ainsi que celle de GrahamCarter (Royaume-Uni), un Manuelinternational sur l´éducation muséale.

Notre travail éducatif ne se limite plusaujourd´hui à la simple visite scolaireou à un atelier pour enfants dans unecave perdue du musée. Il dépasse sou-vent le cadre même du musée. Aussices Cahiers d´étude ouvrent-t-ils sur lerôle de l´éducation muséale au senslarge. Quel est-il aujourd´hui, dix ansaprès l´état d´urgence décrété lors dela IXe Conférence de l´ICOM à BuenosAires5? Les articles présentés dans cenuméro ont été choisis en fonction del´incroyable diversité et richessequ´offre notre profession, ainsi que deses nombreux champs d´application :un premier volet traite des différentsdomaines de recherche ou de réflexionqui sous-tendent le travail quotidiende l´éducateur, à savoir la nécessitéd´une formation adéquate à la sauve-garde de notre patrimoine, l´évalua-tion, la motivation du visiteur et l´étudede son comportement, la présentationéducative et attrayante des collections,la place et la raison d´être des ateliersau sein du musée et l´impact des théo-ries constructivistes sur l´éducationmuséale.

A l´ère de l´informatique et de l´image,l´éducateur de musée se doit de res-ter vigilant, critique et conscient de samission. Gardons à l´esprit la spécifi-cité même du musée et la chance quenous avons de pouvoir y trouver cequ´aucun multimédia ou technologiesophistiquée ne peuvent offrir : le con-tact direct et irremplaçable avecl´objet, l´émerveillement qu´il suscite.Le rôle de support incontestable offertpar les nouvelles technologies ne

saurait être dédaigné, et l´éducationmuséale est loin d´en avoir explorétous les secrets6.

Un deuxième volet aborde le côté «tan-gible» de notre travail, et présentequelques études plus spécifiques por-tant sur les musées et les commu-nautés, les musées des enfants, lesmusées et le public scolaire, le muséehors-les-murs, les musées et les mino-rités, l´éducation muséale dans unmusée des sciences ou d´histoire natu-relle.

Ce panorama est loin d´être exhaustif.J´espère qu´il permettra néanmoins aulecteur de comprendre les enjeuxactuels de notre profession, et qu´ilconvaincra - si besoin était - les auto-rités compétentes de la nécessité de sareconnaissance. L´enthousiasme, dontil est question dans le dernier article,ne saurait avoir raison de tous lesobstacles, et il est urgent que les ser-vices éducatifs et culturels des muséesdisposent de moyens suffisants afin demener à bien un travail de collabora-tion interdisciplinaire, et de releverainsi le défi de leur pluridisciplinarité.

The EducationalRole of Museumstowards the XXIst Century

Nicole Gesché-KoningChair of the Committee

for Education and Cultural Action

The Committee for Education andCultural Action (CECA) is pleased topresent this second issue in the ICOMStudy Series. It is not mere chancethat it follows the issue onConservation-Restoration1. The taskof a museum is surely to conservecollections, but must not museumsalso communicate to the public themessages offered by the objects ondisplay? Jean Capart, the founder ofBelgian museum education, alreadyrecognised the educational mission ofa museum when in 1922, after a tripto the United States, he defined thedouble function of a museum: scien-tific and inward-looking, and commu-nicative and outward-looking2.

This idea of opening the museum tothe public and its educational mission3

2

is now taken for granted. ICOM rec-ognised this mission from the verybeginning of its existence, and CECAhas since then always been able tocount on the support of ICOM for thedevelopment of its activities4. AnInternational Committee on Educationwas created in 1953. Ten years laterit took its present name of CECA(Committee for Education and CulturalAction). Today it is one of ICOM´slargest committees with over 1000members, among whom are some 700voting members.

The major event of our committee iswithout doubt our Annual InternationalConference. Among those for whichProceedings have been published letus mention the meetings of Svendborg,Denmark (1981), The Exhibition as an Educational Tool; Düsseldorf,Germany (1984) Museums and theWorld of Work; Barcelona, Spain(1985) The Educational Staff andResearch; Nafplion and Athens, Greece(1988) Establishing, Maintaining andDeveloping Museum Education Serv-ices; Jerusalem, Israel (1991) TheMuseum and the Needs of People; Delhiand Calcutta, India (1993) Integrationof Museums in a Multicultural Society;Cuenca, Ecuador (1994) Museums,Education and Natural, Social andCultural Heritage (under print); andfinally that of Stavanger, Norway (1995)Museums and the Community (underprint).

CECA has always had an active publi-cation policy and regularly issues aNewsletter (formerly Market of Ideas)and the annual journal ICOMEducation. The CECA Board has setitself a new task for this triennialperiod, namely the publication of theInternational Handbook on MuseumEducation under the supervision ofGraham Carter (United Kingdom) andmyself.

Museum education is no longer lim-ited to a simple guided tour for schoolsor a children´s workshop in someremote corner of the museum.Education programs often go beyondthe confines of the museum itself. Thisis why this issue starts with an articleon the wider role of museum educa-tion. What is this role nowadays, tenyears after the urgent appeal of theICOM IXth General Conference inBuenos Aires5? The articles presentedhere have been chosen to reflect theincredible variety - and thus richness- of our profession and its numerousfields of investigation: the first partdeals with issues which are more rela-ted to research and theory but are

nevertheless necessary to support ourdaily work, i.e. the necessity of ade-quate training about the preservationof our heritage, evaluation techniques,the motivation of museum visitors,behaviour studies, the educationalpresentation of the exhibits, contruc-tivist theory, the purpose and real goalsof museum workshops and opportuni-ties for further training.

In the computer and image era,museum educators should remain cri-tical and conscious of their mission.However, they should also bear inmind that no media or sophisticatednew technology will ever be able tosupplant the museum and what makesits specificity, a place where one is indirect contact with the object. Thesupportive role of these new techno-logies cannot be ignored, and museumeducation still has a lot to explore inthis matter6 .

The second part of this issue dealswith case studies like museums andcommunities, museums and schools,museum outreach, museums andminority groups, in science or naturalhistory museums.

This overview is far from complete. Inevertheless hope it will give thereader the opportunity to understandwhat is at stake in our profession andconvince the relevant authorities ofthe necessity of its recognition - if stillnecessary. Enthusiasm alone, as men-tioned in the last contribution of thisissue, cannot overcome all obstacles,and museum education and interpre-tation departments urgently need suffi-cient funding to achieve interdiscipli-nary collaboration and cope with thechallenges of its pluridisciplinary mis-sion.

1 Study series, Conservation Committe (ICOM-CC), ICOM, 1995.

2 Claudine Deltour-Levie and Nicole Gesché-Koning, “Le service éducatif des Musées royauxd´art et d´histoire, un travail d´équipe», La Vie desmusées, 1986/1, p. 49.

3 Nicole Gesché-Koning, “La mission d´éduca-tion du musée”, Proceedings of Musées, civilisa-tion et développement, Amman, Jordanie, 1-4 April1994, pp. 385-389.

4 “Le rôle éducatif des musées. Le CECA aufil des ans”, Info Musées, Bulletin d´informationtrimestriel de l´Association francophone desmusées de Belgique, n°4, Spécial CECA, March1996, pp. 3-14; “CECA survey”, ICOM Education,n°15, pp. 35-37.

5 ICOM ´86, Proceedings of the XIVth GeneralConference, Buenos Aires, 26 October - 4 Novem-ber 1986, Resolution IX, p. 108.

6 This publication will come to light for theannual CECA conference (Vienna, September1996) whose theme is “Locally and worldwide :The new strategies in museum communication”.

The Wider Role ofMuseum Educators

Graham CarterHead of Education and Interpretation

National Motor Museum,Palace House and Gardens

Beaulieu, United-Kingdom

Résumé

L´éducation muséale n´a guère été épargnéepar les remous qui ont affecté ces dix der-nières années le monde des musées britan-niques. Afin de répondre au mieux à sa fonc-tion de service public, le musée doit pouvoircompter sur un personnel éducatif intégré aucadre, et non seulement spécialisé dans unediscipline particulière et doté d´une qualifica-tion en éducation, mais pouvant justifier également d´une expérience pratique etpsychologique, ainsi que d´une connaissancedes différentes théories de l´apprentissage etdes nouvelles techniques de communication.Le rôle de la direction ne doit pas se limi-ter quant à lui à la seule étude des collec-tions.

For the past decade or more, workingin Museums in the UK has been likewalking on quick sand while beingshaken by intermittent and unpredict-able earthquakes. Nowhere has thisanalogy been more apt than in thesphere of Museum education. Theever shifting quicksands have beencaused by constant change in thesocial, educational and economic envi-ronment in which we work, while themajor earth tremors have been trig-gered by politically motivated changesinitiated by the Government of the day.There have been changes in the finan-cing and management of the nationalMuseums, capping of expenditure inlocal authorities, the introduction of aNational Curriculum in UK schoolsand pressure to rely more heavily oncorporate and individual sponsorshipof Museums. Inevitably, Museumeducation has not been immune tothese major changes and the overallimpact has not always been beneficial.

As managers in industry and com-merce are very well aware, the mana-gement of change is the most difficultand complex challenge which we face,particularly where this change involvesa shift in the basic culture of the organisation. In Museums, the needfor increasingly effective managementhas obliged curators and directors to

3

develop and, in some cases acquire, awhole range of new skills to add totheir already highly developed acade-mic and museological abilities. Oneof the most essential skills is the fulland effective deployment of the abili-ties of their existing staff. Herein liesthe opportunity for Museum educatorsto play a much more pro-active rolein the maintenance and developmentof their establishments.

Personally, I have never subscribed tothe belief that education is a secon-dary (and, therefore, second rate) func-tion of museums. On the contrary, Ibelieve education to be an absolutelycentral Museum function, and ulti-mately, the function which justifies thesupport of Museums from the publicpurse. Of course, collection andconservation of objects relating to ournatural and cultural heritage andresearch on these objects remainfundamental to the mission ofMuseums, but the information soacquired remains valueless unless it ismade available to the world commu-nity. This process of communicationis an educational activity. Acceptanceof education as a core Museum func-tion should be reflected in the mana-gement structure of the establishment.The senior educator on the Museumstaff should, therefore, be a memberof the main management committeewith a status equivalent to that ofsenior curators in other Museumdepartments. This should allow theMuseum educator full participation inthe professional management of theinstitution ranging from definition ofthe “mission statement” to the natureof the Museum´s publications.

Naturally, the degree to which aMuseum director can make effectiveuse of his/her Museum educatordepends on how he/she regards theimportance of the post and the abilityof the individual. If the educator isregarded as the person who only meetsand deals with school groups, thenprobably 80% of their potential forcontribution to the overall work of theMuseum is already ruled out. On theother hand, if the educator is consi-dered as the communications bridgebetween the Museum, its staff andcollections, and its audience, then he,or more often, she will be able tocontribute fully to the effectiveness ofthe organisation.

Achievement of the maximum contri-bution will depend on qualities andqualifications of the education officerinvolved. I would expect this personto be a good graduate in an appro-

priate discipline with a postgraduateeducational qualification and practicalexperience at some level of the educa-tional service appropriate to the parti-cular Museum. It is highly likely thatsuch a person would be the only mem-ber of the Museum management teamto have any professional qualificationsand experience in the psychology andtheory of learning and in appropriatecommunication techniques. Thesestrengths should be deployed for theoverall benefit of the Museum.

Given suitably qualified education staffand a sufficiently open managementphilosophy, there are many areas towhich education can make an en-hanced contribution.

1 A Wider Educational Role

It is assumed in all that follows thatthe definition of education associatedwith the Museum is a wide one. Inthese circumstances, the educationofficer will be involved in develop-ment and delivery of adult and infor-mal education and also, possibly ofOutreach programmes. The adult acti-vities will include evening lectures,weekend courses, in-service trainingdays. Outreach programmes mayinclude touring collections or commu-nity education programmes in bothurban and rural locations.

2 Interpretation

Far too often, it appears, educationstaff are presented with a completeddisplay or other interpretive product,and are then asked to develop itseducational potential. At this finalstage, it is almost always too late toderive maximum educational benefitfrom this development. Educationstaff, should, as of right, be membersof the project management team forany new project from day one.

a) ExhibitionsThe Museum director should natu-rally carry lead responsibility forall development of new displaysand exhibits. However, it may bedecided to delegate responsibilityfor detailed development work to aproject team. Such a team willcomprise those members of theMuseum management and staffwho are best equipped to deal witha particular subject. However, theMuseum educator (and a represen-tative of the design team, if thereis one) should be members of theproject management group from

its initiation. While curators shouldbe responsible for proposing theexhibition theme for the selectionof objects to be included, and forthe accuracy of information madeavailable to the visitor, the Museumeducator should feel able to influ-ence the final selection of objectsand participate in the writing andother preparation of supportinginterpretation. Moreover, in somecases, it may be appropriate for theeducator to chair the project team.Incidentally, the team itself neednot be strictly hierarchical. Thedirector should appoint to the teamall those members of staff who areintellectually or professionallyequipped to make a contribution.In some cases, this may encompassjunior members of different depart-ments. The educator should act asrepresentative of the public in thedevelopment process and shouldhave final oversight of all captionsand other interpretive techniquesto be used.

b) Live InterpretersAll Museums employ staff facingand dealing with members of thepublic. Where possible, in additionto the necessary security function,these staff should have an interpre-tive role. The education officershould be responsible for the provi-sion of the background informationwhich they require in order to ful-fill this role. Where costumed inter-preters are employed, this infor-mation should include not only spe-cific detail of exhibits, but alsodetails of the persona in which theindividual acts and that person´srelationship with other peopleinvolved in interpretation.

c) Catalogues & GuidebooksAlthough many curatorial staff usethe publication of expensive exhi-bition catalogues as a means ofdemonstrating their own subjectknowledge and expertise, thesecatalogues are rarely suitable foruse by the uninformed lay visitor.Wherever possible, academic cata-logues should be supplemented bymore comprehensible guides forthe general visitor. To ensure anappropriate standard of communi-cation, these guides should be eit-her written or edited by the educa-tion staff.

d) InteractivesInteractive exhibits may bedeployed for the benefit of eitheradult visitors or children. In eithercase, the logic and methodology of

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the interactive experience shouldbe either planned or approved bythe Museum educator. This proce-dure should ensure that the intel-lectual level of the instruction isappropriate to the chosen audience.

e) Other publicationsNaturally, the education officer willbe responsible for the content,design and formulation of all speci-fically educational publications.However, participation may also beappropriate in other publicationsdesigned for the general public.

3 Training

Rapid changes in the cultural and eco-nomic environment in which Museumshave to function require rapid adapta-tion by members of Museum staff. Allthose in positions of authority are beingrequired to develop business manage-ment skills to set alongside their cura-torial skill, while all staff meeting thepublic must develop improved skills invisitor service. These new skills canonly be developed through an intensivetraining programme. In most cases,the Museum educator is the only profes-sionally qualified teacher/trainer onthe Museum staff, and should, there-fore, be responsible for the delivery oftraining programmes. Whether theeducation officer actually provides thetraining or co-ordinates the provision,depends on the skills and experience ofthe individual. Certainly, he or sheshould be capable of delivering the stafftraining in the areas of customer care,

security, guiding and talking to groups.There will also be a need to provideeach staff member meeting the publicwith adequate background informationon the exhibits.

At management level, more sophisti-cated training will be required.Depending on the particular subject ofa training course, the educator mayneed to co-ordinate the use of outsidetrainers. Skills required by the moderncurator are many and varied. Allshould be trained in leadership, teambuilding, communication, delegation,appraisal, managing meetings, staffdevelopment, financial management,etc. Both management and staff train-ing should be seen as a continuousprocess with refresher courses held atintervals. There will always be a cen-tral training requirement, which couldencompass statutory health and safetyrequirements, safety in operation (lif-ting loads, safe storage, using machi-nery, dealing with fires, etc.), First Aidand, in the UK at least, emergencyaction (dealing with bomb threats).

ConclusionThe full integration of the Museumeducation staff into the public activi-ties of the Museum and the privateactivities of staff development will ena-ble the Museum director to ensurethat these staff deliver a service whichmakes maximum use of their skillsand provides enhanced value to theestablishment which far exceeds thatderived from simply dealing witheducational group visits.

Sauvegarde dupatrimoine etformation : un défiurgent à relever

Catheline Périer-D´IeterenEx-Présidente du Comité

de conservation de l´ICOMProfesseur à l´Université libre de Bruxelles

Summary

In museums, public awareness of heritageprotection issues should be encouraged andtaught by professional museum educatorsand trainees as well as by tourist guides. Thepedagogical role of museum educators is crucial here. The ICOM ConservationCommittee wishes to establish joint pro-grams of public awareness with CECA. Asmany museum educators have a Masters inarts, universities ought to introduce in theircurriculum specific courses and seminars ona pluridisciplinary approach to our heritageand how to deal with and/or face the diffe-rent problems of conservation-restoration.Specialised institutions like universities, resto-ration institutes, international committeeswithin ICOM, i.e. CECA among others, shouldcollaborate in order to meet the largest pos-sible public and initiate it to the need ofpreventive conservation.

Les instances nationales, européenneset internationales se préoccupent àprésent de façon prioritaire à la sensi-bilisation du public au patrimoine. La volonté d’agir est manifeste et une série d’actions est entreprise ou encouragée, notamment au sein des programmes développés par laCommission européenne1 et par leConseil de l’Europe2, mais aussi pardes organisations gouvernementalescomme l’ICCROM3, ou non gouverne-mentales comme l’ICOM et sa consœurpour l’architecture, l’ICOMOS. Il y atoutefois un manque de synergie entreles différents organisateurs qui souhai-tent valoriser le patrimoine, et unintérêt mitigé dès qu’il s’agit de déve-lopper une réelle politique de sauve-garde.

La sensibilisation au patrimoine passenécessairement par la voie de l’éduca-tion, et en premier lieu par celle desformateurs. Elle implique un type deformation continue qui s’exerceraitdans l’idéal aux divers stades d’évolu-tion de l’homme : au cours de la scola-rité, à l’université et dans le monde

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professionnel, pendant la retraite etpour le troisième âge. Or, comme lesmusées attirent toutes les catégoriesd’âge précitées, leurs éducateurs ontune fonction pédagogique essentielleà remplir. Les services éducatifs de laplupart des musées européens, cons-cients de ce rôle, mettent en œuvredes programmes très variés pour drai-ner l’intérêt des visiteurs. Force estcependant de constater que la partd’attention accordée aux problèmesde conservation-restauration desœuvres d’art est minime, et mêmeinexistante dans certaines institutions.C’est pourquoi le Comité de conserva-tion souhaiterait que le Comité pourl’éducation et l’action culturelle joigneses efforts aux siens pour concevoirdes actions pilotes de sensibilisationdans ce domaine.

La conjoncture culturelle et écono-mique actuelle est favorable à ce typed’entreprise. En effet, le nombred’institutions muséales dans le mondene cesse de croître, et la diversité deconcepts des musées et des collectionstouchent un public de plus en pluslarge. Les expositions temporaires semultiplient, de façon d'ailleurs exces-sive, et drainent des foules considéra-bles. Un tourisme culturel cherche àse substituer au tourisme traditionnel.Enfin, la protection du patrimoine, saconservation et surtout sa restaurationsuscitent un intérêt accru de la partdes médias, quoique encore bien insuf-fisant, tandis que les autorités politi-ques conscientes de «l’enjeu» quereprésente le patrimoine aux yeux del’électorat, commencent à prendredavantange de mesures en sa faveur.

Toutefois, ces aspects apparemmentpositifs oblitèrent partiellement lasituation réelle qui est tout à faitinquiétante, car le patrimoine estdavantage instrumentalisé queprotégé. Il sert principalement unepolitique au sein de laquelle la placedévolue à la bonne pratique de laconservation-restauration est néglige-able. Cette situation de fait appelle dèslors une réaction énergique de la partdes responsables du patrimoine, s’ilsdésirent vraiment cesser d’hypothé-quer son avenir. Le tourisme cultureldurable, label très prisé ces dernièresannées, ne sera rendu possible que sichacun apprend à respecter l’intégritéphysique et/ou symbolique d’uneœuvre d’art, d’un monument ou d’unsite.

Depuis de nombreuses années déjà, leComité de conservation milite en cesens. Il a largement contribué parexemple, avec d’autres organismes

internationaux, au développement dela conservation préventive et à la pra-tique d’une réflexion déontologiquepréalable à toute intervention derestauration4. En 1995, il a publié lepremier numéro de la série des Cahiersd’études des comités internationaux de l’ICOM. Cet ouvrage, consacré auxenjeux actuels de la conservation-restauration, était destiné à sensibi-liser les professionnels de musées5. Le Comité se propose aujourd’hui d’étendre son action de sensibilisationau patrimoine au sein même desmusées. Pour atteindre cet objectif, letravail devrait être développé simulta-nément sur plusieurs fronts.

- Entreprendre une formation adé-quate des éducateurs de musées afinqu’ils soient capables d’intégrer àtoute visite guidée des commentairesappropriés sur la conservationpréventive et les matériaux consti-tutifs des œuvres - raison d’être deleur fragilité - ainsi que sur les tech-niques d’exécution.

- Organiser des cycles réguliers deconférences-débats sur des problèmesde conservation-restauration spécifi-ques aux collections ou propres à certaines œuvres-clés du musée.

- Créer au sein des collections perma-nentes un parcours jalonné de noti-ces scientifiques, qui amèneraientles visiteurs à découvrir les objetsdans leur état de conservation actuel,résultat de leur histoire matérielle,et même concevoir sur ce thème unparcours ludique qui stimulerait lacuriosité des jeunes.

- Développer une politique de miseen valeur scientifique des œuvresrestaurées, avec comme substrat,des expositions didactiques, et sur-tout des publications de vulgarisa-tion de haut niveau conçues par lesservices éducatifs des musées encollaboration avec les restaurateurset les conservateurs.

- Réaliser lors d’expositions tempo-raires, parallèlement à l’investiga-tion scientifique des œuvres, la plussouvent illustrée, une section didac-tique sur leur restauration. Cettedernière, toutefois, ne doit pas selimiter à la présentation des objetsavant et après restauration, commec’est généralement le cas, mais bienéduquer le public à les lire dans leurmatérialité nouvellement révélée.

Le spectateur, en apprenant à recon-naître les particularités stylistiques ettechniques caractéristiques à chaque

type d’œuvre, comprendrait simulta-nément ce que la restauration ne peuten aucun cas altérer pour que le mes-sage originel de l’œuvre soit préservé.Ce genre de section constituerait unesorte de parcours initiatique quel’éducateur de musée devrait encoreétayer d’exemples concrets dans lessalles. Ainsi, il amènerait le visiteur àdécouvrir l’individualité artistique d’unpeintre par une analyse conjointe dustyle et de la technique d’exécution,montrerait comment cette techniquevarie en fonction des aspirations esthé-tiques du maître, ferait comprendre lerôle optique des glacis, des empâte-ments ou des frottis et l’importancedes textures de surface dans le rendude l’espace et de la lumière, ou encorerelèverait la juste recherche d’équi-libre entre transparences et opacités.Autant d’observations qui rendent pos-sible une autre vision de l’œuvre d’art,complémentaire de celle la plusfréquemment enseignée.

Ainsi initié, chaque visiteur se ren-drait rapidement compte par lui-mêmedes mesures préventives qui sont àprendre pour éviter que les élémentsessentiels à une juste perception del’œuvre ne s’altèrent. Il pourrait révé-ler les nettoyages drastiques qui ten-dent, par exemple, à réduire les pein-tures à leur simple reproduction photo-graphique et refuser un tel traitementpour son propre patrimoine. De lamême façon, il trouverait des argu-ments pour refuser les vernis épaisqui masquent les effets picturauxdésirés par l’artiste et les rentoilagestrop durs qui effacent le vécu de l’œu-vre. Les expositions rétrospectivesoffrent, trop souvent hélas, d’excel-lents exemples d’intervention dans ledomaine de la restauration à com-menter de manière critique. La valeurdidactique de la démarche de l’éduca-teur réside alors dans la possibilitéunique qui s’offre à lui d’une appro-che comparative - œuvres bien ou malrestaurées, rentoilées ou non, net-toyage partiel ou total, couche de ver-nis légère, épaisse ou trop brillante.

La diversité des publics qui fréquen-tent les musées exige de l’éducateurde cibler son discours pour se mettre au diapason de chacun, enfants, adolescents, curieux, ama-teurs éclairés, personnes âgées. Il réus-sira de cette façon à sensibiliser unepart importante de la population à uneapproche critique de l’œuvre d’art etde son état de conservation. Les pro-pos techniques et portant sur la restau-ration doivent bien entendu être inté-grés dans une approche globale del’œuvre, qui n’oblitère pas les données

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historiques, iconographiques et stylis-tiques. Ainsi, la lecture de l’objet ensei-gnée au musée sous tous ses paramè-tres porterait ses fruits dans le privéet pourrait s’appliquer à tout type depatrimoine. Nombreux seraient alorsles visiteurs qui auraient acquis petità petit les réflexes adaptés pour proté-ger les œuvres en les soustrayant àdes présentations ou à des manipula-tions dangereuses, mais également etsurtout à des pratiques de restaurationinadéquates ou abusives.

Afin de comprendre le bien-fondé desmesures de conservation et de restau-ration et juger de la légitimité desinterventions, le public doit apprendreà reconnaître par lui-même ce qui faitla qualité intrinsèque d’une œuvred’art et à sentir où réside le messageà transmettre aux générations futures.Pour amener le visiteur à ce stade,l’éducateur de musée doit impérative-ment s’ouvrir lui-même à de nouveauxdomaines qui sont complémentairesde ceux traditionnellement enseignésen histoire de l’art. Il est donc urgentqu’il dispose d’une formation spéci-fique en technologie des arts plasti-ques, en conservation-restauration, eten investigation scientifique desœuvres d’art pour aborder les collec-tions sous un angle moins livresque.

La majorité des guides de musées sontdiplômés en histoire de l’art. Ilincombe donc aux universités d’intro-duire dans les cursus d’étude et lesprogrammes d’agrégation, un nombresuffisant d’heures de cours spécifiqueset de stages pratiques pour former lesétudiants à une approche pluridiscipli-naire du patrimoine débouchant àterme sur une connaissance de l’objetou du monument dans sa matérialité,et sur une prise de conscience desproblèmes de conservation-restaura-tion qui leur sont inhérents.

La vogue actuelle du CD-Rom et du«musée virtuel» oblige par ailleursl’éducateur à relever un immense défi,celui de continuer, à l’aube de ce XXIe

siècle, à amener le visiteur à l’œuvred’art, car aucune illusion ni substituts,si parfaits soient-ils, ne remplacent laconnaissance rapprochée de l’objet, laseule qui suscite une émotion véri-table. Pourtant, le musée imaginaired’André Malraux devient chaque jour«plus présent» dans le monde. A courtterme, il risque de devenir tellementimaginaire que, sans antidote oucomplément d’approche proposé parl’historien de l’art, l’homme sera con-damné à ne plus voir le patrimoinedans sa réalité physique, «à ne plus lesentir avec les yeux» comme le disait

Gœthe, et partant à le laisser sedétruire dans une totale indifférence.«Ah, ces foutus originaux», écrivaitMalraux, et bien il est grand temps etmême primordial que les éducateursapprennent au public à en jouir touten se souciant de leur pérennité.

Le devoir de sensibiliser le public aupatrimoine ne se limite naturellementpas aux seuls éducateurs de musées.Il concerne aussi les guides touristi-ques, auxquels il échoit quotidienne-ment de faire respecter par leursclients les monuments et sites qu’ilsvisitent. Vœux pieux qui, une foisencore pour que les résultats soientefficaces, demandent une préparationpédagogique réfléchie. Celle-ci devraitêtre dispensée dans les écoles de tou-risme et les diplômes de tourisme desuniversités, selon une grille d’appro-che comparable à celle élaborée pourles services éducatifs des musées.Enfin, toute initiative, tout effort entre-pris dans ce domaine devraient fairel’objet d’articles réguliers dans lapresse, mais là encore le journalistemanque le plus souvent d’une forma-tion élémentaire.

D’innombrables initiatives d’ouverturedu patrimoine au public sont priseschaque année dans le monde entier,les itinéraires touristiques créés par le Conseil de l’Europe comme les Journées du patrimoine en sontdes exemples représentatifs. Mal-heureusement, la dimension de lasauvegarde du patrimoine est presquetoujours absente des préoccupationsdes organisateurs. Fait plus grave, lesrestaurations réalisées pour rendre lesœuvres accessibles répondent rare-ment aux critères d’interventionadmis. On rénove plus qu’on ne res-taure, ce qui est aussi lié au manquede connaissance ad-hoc et à la forma-tion des intervenants choisis. Ces der-niers sont le plus souvent des artisansqui possèdent le métier mais man-quent, dans l’approche des problèmes,du jugement critique propre auxrestaurateurs diplômés. Enfin, les nor-mes de sécurité et d’environnementsont trop fréquemment négligées. Eneffet, qui s’interroge sur les nuisancescausées par un afflux de personnesdans des lieux trop exigus ou lorsd’expositions temporaires? Quelhomme politique prend des mesuresdrastiques pour stopper la pollutiondue aux autocars qui laissent tournerleur moteur diesel et pour sanctionnerles contrevenants? Qui s’indigne dusort d’objets fragiles prêtés tropfréquemment pour des expositionsprestigieuses? Qui dénonce les mau-vaises restaurations, causes de dégâts

irréversibles6? Journalistes, historiensde l’art, quelque soit leur vie profes-sionnelle, responsables culturels, anti-quaires, politiques, galeristes, tousdevraient avoir le courage, dans leurdomaine de compétence, de défendrele patrimoine, en action et non passeulement en parole!

Une Journée du patrimoine consacréeà sa préservation devrait être orga-nisée prioritairement dans le mondeentier. De même, il serait souhaitableque tous les organismes concernés parla conservation-restauration unissentleurs efforts dans un futur proche pourréaliser les premiers modules d’ensei-gnement, résultat de réflexions com-munes et une espèce de vade-mecumde la formation des guides qui pour-rait être diffusée sous différentes for-mes (publication, CD-Rom, vidéo...) etêtre utilisée par les formateurs de toutecatégorie. L’Université libre deBruxelles, en collaboration avecl’Université de Gand, l’ICCROM,l’ICOM, l’ICOMOS, des instituts et éco-les de restauration renommés, commel’Institut royal du patrimoine artistiqueà Bruxelles, la Kongelige DanskeKunstakademi de Copenhague, laStichting Restauratie Atelier Limburgà Maastricht ont décidé d’agir et delancer des projets pilotes dans cedomaine. La collaboration du CECA àcette vaste entreprise, qui cherche nonseulement à rencontrer un public leplus large possible mais surtout à luidonner les moyens et l’envie de proté-ger le patrimoine qui l’entoure, seraitla bienvenue.

1 Les différents types d’appels à manifestationd’intérêt lancés par la DG X la Direction géné-rale et le Programme Raphaël (1996-2001) por-tant par exemple sur les richesses archéologi-ques, le jumelage des musées, l’Europe baroqueet la formation.

2 Les Itinéraires culturels du Conseil del’Europe dont plusieurs ont déjà été mis en œuvre:Saint Jacques de Compostelle, Les Cisterciens,Parcs et jardins, L’héritage d’Al Andalus...

3 Voir les programmes types conçus parl’ICCROM dans le cadre de Media Save Art1994/95, et le projet La Ville sous la ville.

4 Le conservateur-restaurateur : une définitionde la profession, texte présenté en version défi-nitive en 1984 à Copenhague.

5 Cahiers d’étude du Comité de conservation(ICOM-CC), ICOM, 1995.

6 C. Périer-D’Ieteren, Conférence générale del'ICOM à Québec, «Restauration ou destruction?»,La Vie des musées, n° 8, 1993, p. 66-68 ; Conférencegénérale de l'ICOM à Stavanger «Expositions oudestruction?», Bulletin de l’Association franco-phone des musées de Belgique, n° 2, 1995, pp. 14-18 ; «La sauvegarde des icônes», Actes du ColloqueThe Conservation of Icons. An Approach towardsProblems, Methods and Materials, Used inConservation Laboratories, Worldwide, ICOM-Grèce, Groupe de travail sur la conservation desicônes, Athènes, 10-14 octobre 1995 (sous presse);«Comment concilier l’accès au patrimoine et sasauvegarde», Actes du Colloque Le tourisme cul-turel dans la perspective du tourisme durable,Palma de Majorque, 24-26 novembre 1995 (souspresse).

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Reflections onVisitor Researchand Training.Are ExhibitionEvaluation andVisitor StudiesRelevant to Docent Training?

Dorothee DennertHead of Education

Haus der GeschichteBonn, Germany

Résumé

Les résultats des enquêtes sur le visiteur etl´évaluation des expositions ont un rôle signi-ficatif à jouer, non seulement dans l´établis-sement de services répondant aux besoinsdes visiteurs, mais également pour la sélec-tion et la formation des guides indépendants.Grâce aux données qualitatives et quantita-tives ainsi obtenues, le potentiel des servicesaux visiteurs peut être accru, de même quela responsabilité et la légitimité mêmes dumusée.

It is common knowledge that exhibi-tion evaluation and visitor researchare used to improve exhibition plan-ning and design as well as museummarketing and public relations.Systematic observation of groups andvisitor responses, whether throughorganised surveys, comment books orletters, may also provide additionalinformation. Less common is theapplication of evaluation results andvisitor research in the area of museumeducation, specifically to the selection,training and further education of freelance museum docents who pro-vide - in many cases - most of theinterpretive services of many muse-ums.

In Germany, the concept of visitororientation is assuming an increasinglyimportant role in museum work. Manymuseums have adopted visitor orien-tation as an institutional philosophyand measure all aspects of their workin the light of this concept, whether itbe the selection of topics for tempo-rary exhibitions, the provision of ser-vices to indiviual visitors and groups,or the organisation of exhibition-

related special events and program-mes.

This contribution looks at the provi-sion of services for organised groups,specifically docent-led tours. If amuseum decides to provide servicesfor organised groups on a larger scale,this work can almost never be accom-plished exclusively by permanentmuseum staff. The museum will,almost certainly, have to hire tempo-rary, freelance docents to coverdemand. Their selection and trainingshould reflect the approach to visitororientation and the mission of themuseum. Providing docent servicesfor groups is very costly - in time,personnel monetary resources - there-fore it can and should be conductedas effectively as possible. Decisions toprovide costly services can be betterjustified if costly services respond toreal needs based on empirical dataand observation and not just onassumptions.

Organising Visitor Services

A number of questions need to be an-swered when setting up visitor servi-ces, such as:- What is the space situation in the

different areas of the museum? Whatimpact does this have on the opti-mal size of organised groups and onthe interaction of organised groupsand individual visitors?

- Are there acoustic problem areas inthe exhibition? What solutions dothese require? Is the situation soextreme that the use of electronicguides is necessary?

- Can tours be provided simulta-neously; if so, how many?

- How large should organised grouptours be?

- What audience is the museum tryingto reach? Is it the “everyday visitor”or a museum “elite”? Are visitorswell versed in museums or are theyfirst-time guests? What is theireducational level?

- Are modern, A/V media used in theexhibition? How do different targetaudiences respond to this? How canthey be used in docent-led tours?

Exhibition evaluation and visitorresearch can help answer many ofthese questions:- Exhibition evaluation, which ideally

also looks at space questions, canprovide information about futuregroup size, movement (e.g. stoppingpoints, unfavourable areas, etc.) andtour length. The analysis of atten-dance data can provide information

about visiting patterns. With thisinformation, it is possible to influ-ence groups to organise their visitson days and at times with typicallylower attendance. The Office ofVisitor Services at the Haus derGeschichte, for example, has beenrelatively successful in encouragingorganised groups, especially day-long teacher-training programmesand private sector groups (companyevents) to come on Fridays, the daywith the lowest average visitor atten-dance.

- Visitor data can also provide accu-rate information about the composi-tion of organised groups, so thatresources for docent-led tours andrelated programmes can be distri-buted appropriately. Visitor data atthe Haus der Geschichte shows thatschool groups, more than 1,000 toursin 1995, account for 20-25% of allorganised groups. Thus, the pri-mary target audience for these ser-vices is not, as in many other muse-ums, mainly school-age children.Visitor data can provide informationabout the background of museumvisitors. If, as at the Haus derGeschichte, many visitors are first-time museum goers (“everday visi-tor”), then the interpretation of theexhibtion must take this into account.This means that in addition to thespecific message of a particular exhi-bition, the broader message ofmuseum-as-medium needs to beaddressed. These messages formthe so-called “building blocks” ofinterpretation for every tour.

- Visitor research will show to whatextent the use of modern media ele-ments in the exhibition is acceptedamong various target audiences.This knowledge can help docents toadjust their comments according tospecific needs among specificaudiences.

- Visitor research and observationshow that learning in museums isdifferent to learning in other educa-tional settings. Exhibition interpre-tation must reflect research resultsabout learning patterns.

Docent Selection and Training

The analysis of visitor research is use-ful when establishing criteria for theselection and training of docents.

- Applicant Selection and InterviewsEach docent is a representative of themuseum to the public. Applicantsmust be willing and able to convey themission of the museum, including visi-tor orientation. The selection of appli-

8

cants should ideally reflect identifiableneeds such as the types of targetaudiences the museum draws, inclu-ding foreign language, age structure,etc. The policy at the Haus derGeschichte is to hire docents withdifferent backgrounds and of differentages (students, retired professionals,women looking for additional workoutside the home) in order to accom-modate the wide range of audiencesegments that come to the museum.

The experience of the Haus derGeschichte has shown that it is help-ful to have a two-phase selection pro-cess and conduct group applicationinterviews. The first group interviewis designed to gauge the applicants'motivation, initiative, group communi-cation skills, and flexibility. For exam-ple, those who have indicated that theycan conduct tours in foreign languagesare asked - without prior warning - toconduct a part of the conversation inthat language. The second group inter-view focuses on content matters. Theapplicants, who have been given lit-erature about the museum and the so-called exhibition “building blocks” areasked to answer questions about themuseum in general and the exhibitionin particular. We have found that thetwo-phase group interview processprovides us with a much better pictureof the future docents which helps uswith selection, but also gives us a pre-view of how we can adapt training tomeet their needs. An unintended bene-fit is that this intense selection processprovides the future docents - evenbefore training has started - with asense of what we want, and they havealready become acquainted with theirfuture colleagues.

- TrainingThe museum setting is highly visual,an atmosphere that triggers a varietyof associations and reactions from indi-vidual visitors, depending upon educa-tion, age, specific life experiences,place of birth, etc. In addition, eachmuseum has a unique setting,audience and mission. Training mustreflect these points.

In the Haus der Geschichte, applicantswho have successfully completed thetwo-phase interview process are askedto participate in a two-day trainingseminar. The seminar incorporates avariety of approaches including shortpresentations, discussions, workinggroups, and video training. Althoughthe size of the group depends uponhow many docents need to be trained,our experience shows that a group ofaround 12 participants is ideal.

Relatively soon after completing thetraining seminar, the docents are askedto conduct their first group tours sothat they can gain experience asquickly as possible; generally an “easy”group without specific thematic orpedagogical demands is chosen forthem. The museum educator and/orthe coordinator of visitor services dis-cusses the tour as part of an informalevaluation session before assigningother, more demanding groups.

- EvaluationAfter the new docents have conductedseveral tours and feedback sessions,the museum educator and/or coordi-nator of visitor services then observesthe docent during a group tour andconducts a more formal evaluationfocusing on both content and commu-nication skills. The Haus der Ge-schichte is in the process of devel-oping a structured self-evaluation pro-cess for docents, which will include aquestionnaire.

- Further TrainingThe Haus der Geschichte providesregular opportunities for its docents tocontinue their training and meet witheach other to exchange experiences.Such events include lectures, work-shops, lunchtime-meetings and spe-cial tours through the exhibition.Indeed, the evaluation sessions canalso be understood as personalisedtraining sessions conducted with themuseum educator, coordinator of visitor services or a curator. In the

past, training topics have included spe-cial thematic tours of the exhibition,museum issues such as “Learning in Museums”, “Results of VisitorResearch” and commucation skills,such as “Non-verbal Communication”.Past presenters, in addition to themuseum educator and coordinator ofvisitor services, have included themuseum director, curators and out-side experts.

Conclusion

The results of visitor research andexhibition evaluation can play a signi-ficant role in setting up and monito-ring needs-oriented visitor services ingeneral, as well as selecting and train-ing freelance docents in particular.Basing museum education services,including the selection and training ofdocents on qualitative and quantita-tive data is one way of putting visitororientation into practice. Moreover, itcan also improve the provision of services and hence increase theaccountability and legitimacy of themuseum.

Indeed, the selection and training pro-cess of docents itself should be the tar-get of evaluation measures to assess ifand how visitor needs have been met.In turn, these results may uncoverfurther needs, trigger new ideas andencourage additional projects that canmake the museum more attractive tothe public.

9

Réexaminerl apprentissage duvisiteur pouraméliorer sa relation avec l objet muséal*

Colette Dufresne-TasséDirectrice, Maîtrise en muséologie

Université de Montréal, Canada

Summary

A new conception of adult learning and theelaboration of a new method of evaluating itenables us to understand 1) the variety ofacquisitions made by a visitor during his/herobservation of the museum objects on dis-play, 2) how the information about themuseum objects reach the visitor and his/herown creativity, 3) how these acquisitionsparticipate in the development of the adult,both as a private individual and as a profes-sional who is expected to offer special ser-vices to society.

L'apprentissage de l'adulte au muséeest maintenant un sujet désuet auxyeux de ceux qui s'y intéressaient il ya dix ou quinze ans1 ; ils ont l'intui-tion qu'une large proportion des acqui-sitions réalisées par les visiteurs leuréchappent, car ils se sentent limités àl'examen des acquisitions factuelles2

ou à celles que le concepteur d'expo-sition a prévues. Les professionnels,comme les chercheurs, déplorent unetelle impasse parce qu'ils demeurentpersuadés que l'apprentissage cons-titue un élément majeur et fort dési-rable d'une visite au musée.

Je vais m'employer à montrer que lesproblèmes qui entourent actuellementl'étude de l'apprentissage ne sont pasinsolubles et que cette étude peut con-naître une nouvelle vitalité. A monavis, deux opérations sont nécessairesà la redynamisation de l'apprentis-sage : redéfinir la notion même, puistrouver une nouvelle façon d'étudierles acquisitions du visiteur en salled'exposition.

Renouveler la définition de l´apprentissage

La définition de l'apprentissage héritéedu behaviorisme est toujours valable ;

l'apprentissage est la modification ducomportement ou du «potentiel decomportement» découlant de l'expé-rience d'une personne3. Je crois que ladifficulté éprouvée par les muséolo-gues tient au fait qu'ils restreignent defaçon indue la variété des indicesd'apprentissage qu'ils utilisent. Ilsréduisent en effet ces indices aux seulscomportements immédiatement obser-vables que sont les connaissancesacquises au cours d'une visite. De cefait, ils écartent les expériences quicréent chez une personne un «poten-tiel d'action», c'est-à-dire des capa-cités utilisables lorsqu'une situationfavorable se présente. Si l'on tientcompte de ces dernières expériencesautant que de celles qui donnent lieuà l'énoncé de connaissances précises,on peut élargir la signification ac-cordée au terme apprentissage jusqu'àlui faire englober toute acquisition quicontribue au développement psycholo-gique d´une personne. Cette acquisitionpeut porter sur l'«univers», c'est-à-diresur le monde extérieur à cette per-sonne, mais aussi sur cette personneelle-même, ce qu'elle est ou n'est pas,en particulier sur sa façon d'interagiravec le monde qui l'entoure.

Les travaux des psychologues d'orien-tation cognitiviste et ceux des spécia-listes de l'intelligence artificielle4

permettent de préciser les formes quepeut prendre l'apprentissage. L'acqui-sition réalisée peut, et c'est le cas debeaucoup de connaissances, contri-buer à un élargissement ou à unapprofondissement de l´idée qu´unepersonne se fait de l´univers ou d´elle-même. Elle peut également augmenterla variété ou la puissance des moyensd'action de la personne. Elle peut amé-liorer, par exemple, sa capacité dediscriminer, celle de traiter l'informa-tion reçue, celle d'élaborer de l'infor-mation nouvelle ou celle d'évaluer sapropre production.

Ainsi, conceptuellement au moins, onpeut avoir accès à une grande variétéde types d'acquisitions. De plus, lesapprentissages d'un visiteur se trou-vent reliés à son développement, end'autres termes, à son épanouissementcomme personne privée, comme tra-vailleur ou comme citoyen.

Elaborer un moyen de connaître lesapprentissages d´un visiteur en salled´exposition

Les moyens habituellement employésdans les musées pour étudier l'appren-tissage, le «tracking» et l'entretien post-visite, se révèlent inadéquats pour

repérer les acquisitions du visiteur quicontribuent à son développementpsychologique. En effet, le premier deces moyens offre de l'information surles déplacements du visiteur, en d'au-tres termes, sur ses comportementsplutôt que sur son fonctionnementpsychologique. Dans certaines circons-tances, il permet de penser qu'il y aeu apprentissage, mais il ne permetpas d'identifier précisément quellesacquisitions ont été réalisées. Quantau second moyen, l'entretien, le maté-riel qui en émane est inapproprié pourplusieurs raisons, en particulier parceque l'adulte ne peut se souvenir detoute l'information qu'il a tirée desobjets qu'il a observés ou qu'il a lui-même élaborée au cours d'une visite.Lorsqu'on lui demande d'en parler,son rapport comporte forcément deslacunes et de nombreuses formes dereconstruction pour donner sens auxéléments dont il se souvient5. Sontémoignage n'est donc pas valide.

On peut contourner les difficultésposées par ces deux moyens en adop-tant une toute autre approche : en ten-tant d'accéder au fonctionnementpsychologique même, au moment pré-cis où celui-ci se déroule. Une sériede recherches américaines et euro-péennes ont montré que ce que dit unadulte, son «discours» pendant qu'ilréalise une tâche de nature intellec-tuelle, traduit adéquatement le traite-ment qu'il impose à son expérience(en d'autres termes, à son fonctionne-ment), si l'on a pris soin de lui deman-der de verbaliser au fur et à mesurece qu'il pense, imagine ou ressent,sans toutefois tenter de l'expliquer6.

Le fonctionnement psychologique etl'apprentissage comme sous-produitde ce fonctionnement doivent ainsiêtre extraits du discours du visiteur.Le Groupe de recherche sur les musées et l'éducation des adultes del'Université de Montréal a développéun instrument pour réaliser cetteextraction. La description de cet instru-ment et son utilisation sont complexeset ne sauraient être détaillées ici7. Jeme bornerai à illustrer par des partiesde discours de visiteurs chacune desformes d'acquisition correspondant àla conception élargie de l'apprentis-sage proposée plus haut.

A. Exemples qui illustrent une exten-sion des connaissances d'une personne1) sur le monde extérieur, et 2) surelle-même.

1) Au début de la visite d'une expo-sition de mollusques, un hommedit : «Ah ! (lit l´étiquette). C´est un

10

busicon. Je savais pas qu´il y enavait des m… des mollusques commeça!»

2) Dans un musée des beaux-arts,aprés avoir dit que les peintresquébecois du XIXe siècle devaientfaire des portraits pour gagner leurvie, une visiteuse constate : «Je réa-lise que je suis une personne qui ades considérations économiques».

B. Exemples illustrant l'approfondisse-ment des connaissances qu'une per-sonne possède déjà 1) sur le mondeextérieur, 2) sur elle-même.

1) Dans un musée d'art moderne,une visiteuse explicite une décou-verte qu'elle a déjà faite : non seule-ment les artistes peuvent s'amuseravec les formes et les couleurs,mais ils l'ont toujours fait. «Un arc-en-ciel, euh... non, un feu d'artifice.Regarde-moi ça ces couleurs-là! Moi,j'ai déjà bloqué sur des peinturescomme ça. Tu sais, moi, les Sainte-Anne avec la Vierge euh... les pein-tres, ils en ont peut-être eu assez. Ilspeuvent s'amuser avec des formes,pis des couleurs. Après tout, moi jepense... les peintres, moi je pensequ'ils sont, qu'ils ont toujours faitça. Après tout, si on est peintre, c'estpas pour s'emmerder!»

2) En terminant la visite d'uneexposition d'astrolabes, une visi-teuse, jeune mathématicienne,identifie la raison pour laquelle sapropre démarche et celle qu'elleenseigne ne sont pas satisfaisantes :«Je n'ai rien compris. C'est rare.Moi qui dis à mes étudiants : décri-vez, soyez clairs, soyez logiques,déduisez, vérifiez. Eh bah ! aujour-d'hui, j'ai réalisé toutes ces opéra-tions-là. C'est peut-être pas suffisant.Je suis certaine qu'aujourd'hui çane l'était pas.» (traduit de l'anglais).

C. Exemple qui illustre l'augmentationde la variété et de la puissance desmoyens d'action d'une personne.

Une visiteuse ayant longuementscruté une peinture dans un muséede beaux arts découvre qu'elle vientd'acquérir une nouvelle habileté,approfondit la signification de celle-ci, puis les répercussions de sonutilisation. «Quel beau portrait... Jem'arrête. Pourtant, j'ai l'impressionque tout ce que j'ai fait... mainte-nant, ah oui, me donne ce qu'il fautpour commencer à comprendre, à levoir, à v-o-i-r. Maintenant, j'ail'impression que j'ai ce qu'il fautpour découvrir euh... une euh...

comme un historien, un... géo-graphe, que j'ai qu'à les utiliser.C'est comique, j'ai l'impression d'unetrès très grande puissance ! et c'est àma portée ! J'ai qu'à contempler, puisà me dire ce que ça signifie. D'habi-tude, quand une peinture m'accro-che par la peau des yeux, j'en pro-fite sur le plan esthétique... Je m'ensaoule... Mais là, découvrir qu'enplus, je peux m'instruire, ah! quellemerveille ! . .. Bref, bref, bref, ça veutdire que je vais aller au musée mechoisir une peinture de ce calibre-làet m'offrir un régal ! Pas besoin d'envoir dix. Une visite égale une, deuxpeintures. Copernicien... ce truc !»

En plus d'illustrer l'accroissement dela variété et de la puissance des moyensd'action dont un adulte dispose, cetexemple met également en relief troisphénomènes propres à l'apprentissageet la possibilité de les saisir à traversle discours du visiteur. Il s'agit duregroupement des acquisitions, leursconséquences et de la créativité àlaquelle elles donnent parfois lieu.

1. Les acquisitions d'un visiteur seprésentent parfois sous forme deséries. Ici, les six acquisitions réali-sées s'articulent de la façon sui-vante : a) Maintenant, je suis enpossession de ce qu'il faut pourcomprendre ; b) J'ai ce qu'il fautpour commencer à VOIR ; c) Voirva servir à comprendre ; d) Il mesuffit de donner une signification àce que j'observe ; e) Je peux m'in-struire en me délectant ; f) Grâceà ce que m'apporte le contact d'unepeinture importante, il me sera pos-sible à l'avenir de me limiter à enregarder un très petit nombre aucours d'une visite.

2. Un visiteur saisit parfois sur-le-champ les conséquences de ce qu'ilapprend, comme ici l'accroisse-ment de sa puissance de traitementde ce qu'il observe au musée, puisla réduction du nombre de pein-tures qu'à l'avenir il traitera dansune même visite.

3. La démarche d'apprentissage duvisiteur révèle parfois chez lui undynamisme et même de la créati-vité. A partir de l'observation d'unepeinture et d'une réflexion sur sonfonctionnement au cours de cetteobservation, le visiteur découvredes éléments qu'il manipule parraisonnement. Son raisonnementest une activité autonome qui abou-tit à quelque chose d'inattendu etde nouveau pour lui, en d'autrestermes à une création : une stra-

tégie plus puissante que celle qu'ilutilisait auparavant.

Optimiser l´interaction du visiteur avecl´objet muséal

L'examen des exemples décrits précé-demment permet de croire que le parifait au début de ce texte peut êtregagné ; on peut identifier chez le visi-teur d'autres apprentissages que desaquisitions factuelles. A la conditiond'élargir la signification donnée tradi-tionnellement par le musée à la notiond'apprentissage et de trouver un maté-riau adéquat - le discours du visiteur- convenablement analysé, on peutidentifier une grande variété d'appren-tissages.

L'étude des cinq exemples présentéspermet aussi de saisir qu'un traite-ment pertinent du discours du visiteurmet en relief une série de phénomènesqui entourent l'apprentissage, en parti-culier, les rôles joués tantôt par l'infor-mation que le visiteur tire de l'objet,tantôt par celle qu'élabore son dyna-misme créateur. En somme, elleéclaire la complexité de l'apprentis-sage, et en même temps la forme queprend l'interaction de l'adulte avecl'objet muséal. Elle fournit donc aumusée une information qu'il peut uti-liser pour aider le visiteur à optimisercette interaction, à en faire une expé-rience de délectation, riche en acqui-sitions variées qui contribuent à sondéveloppement.

* Les recherches sur lesquelles ce texte estbasé ont été subventionnées par le Conseilde Recherche en Sciences Humaines duGouvernement du Canada, et par le Fondspour la Formation des Chercheurs et l'Aideà la Recherche du Gouvernement duQuébec.

1 D. Uzzell, «Les approches socio-cognitives del´évaluation des expositions», Publics et Musées,1992, n°1, pp. 107-124.2 E. Hooper-Greenhill, “Lessons in Learning”,Museums Journal, 28 November 1995.3 J.R. Anderson, Learning and Memory, JohnWiley, New York 1995. 4 J.R. Anderson (ed.), Cognitive Skills and TheirAcquisition, Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum,1981; M. Singley et J.R. Anderson, The Transferof Cognitive Skill, Harvard University Press,Cambridge, MA, 1989.5 N. et C. Savard, C. Dufresne-Tasse, «Compa-raison de deux façons d'identifier les questionset les hypothèses formulées par le visiteur demusée», Canadian Journal of Education, 1994,n°19, pp. 94-99.6 K.A. Ericcson et H.A. Simon, Protocol Analysis,The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1993.7 C. Dufresne-Tasse, M. Sauve, A. Weltzl-Fairchild,A. Lefebvre, N. Banna, Y. Lepage et C. Dassa,«Validité du discours du visiteur adulte commemoyen d'étudier son fonctionnement psycholo-gique ; description d'un instrument d´analyse dece fonctionnement», Publics et Musées (à paraître).

11

Learning inMuseums:Motivation, Controland Meaningfulness

Ross J. Loomis, Ph.D.Department of Psychology

Colorado State University, USA

Résumé

Trois propositions permettent de compren-dre le procédé d´apprentissage du visiteur. Ils'agit tout d´abord de prendre en considéra-tion ce qui motive son désir d´apprendre, eten quoi cette motivation diffère de l´appren-tissage scolaire. La réponse se trouve engrande partie dans l'apprentissage intrinsèqueou auto-motivant. Deuxièmement, le visiteurdoit avoir un sentiment de contrôle pourêtre réceptif à ce que lui offre le musée. Ildoit ainsi pouvoir s´orienter ; ce contrôlepeut être assuré par des visites guidées etun certain sentiment de confort. Enfin, l´inter-prétation éducative est un des moyens lesplus efficaces pour assurer une expériencesignificative, à la base de tout apprentissageintrinsèquement motivant.

How does a psychologist look at thetopic of learning in museums? Forme, three words come to mind:Motivation, control and meaningful-ness. Humans learn all the time andin all kinds of circumstances andplaces. What makes learning in amuseum different?

Motivation

So often when people use the term“learning” they are talking about theschool classroom or perhaps the train-ing classroom of a business or indus-try. Societies invest enormous resour-ces in formal learning opportunities.In their review of instructional psycho-logy in the United States, Gagne andDick1 estimate that it would take anindividual five years of work to locateand summarize all that has been writ-ten about applications of instructionalpsychology. Most all of this extensiveamount of work is applied to formallearning situations where the learneris required to master a predeterminedcurriculum. The learner is rewardedfor mastery and punished for failure.Furthermore, the rewards and punish-ments are controlled by others such asteachers and supervisors.

By contrast, learning in museumsentails informal or non formal learn-ing. Even when part of an organizedgroup visit or programme, the em-phasis is on informal learning withoutexaminations or the usual require-ments of a classroom. Certainly forthe individual visitor learning is a per-sonal experience that often occurs aspart of a social occasion. It is anadventure in free or personal time.

Two ideas about informal learning areimportant. First, motivation is alwaysa part of learning. Second, informallearning is based on intrinsic motiva-tion. Arthur Melton2 in a timeless paperentitled “Motivation and Learning”,emphasized that motivation is anessential condition of learning.Motivation, rather a physical conditionlike hunger or a mental representa-tion like an attitude, energizes orstimulates thinking and behavior thatis a necessary condition of learning.In addition, motivation directs whatbehaviors or actions occur in a specif-ic learning situation and defines whatkind of consequences follow the action.Those actions that lead to positive orsatisfying consequences are apt to beremembered and become part of theperson's later behavior.

Unfortunately, it has been a commonpractice to separate learning frommotivation. We often talk about cogni-tive versus emotional experiences.Today there is a growing awarenessthat cognition and emotion (motiva-tion) occur together. Melton, of course,was aware of this relationship manyyears ago.

Intrinsic motivation refers to feelingthat one is acting for the sake of theexperience itself. A visitor studies anobject and reads the label about it andgoes away with a satisfied feeling thathe or she has gained something.Sometimes one can even see the excite-ment of intrinsically motivated learn-ing by watching a visitor attract theattention of a companion and explain,often through animated gestures, whathas just been discovered.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi3 and Herman-son note that informal learning inmuseums must rely on intrinsic moti-vation. Under the best conditions visi-tors experience what Csikszentmihalyicalls flow whereby the visitor be-comes completely involved in his orher interaction with the museum.What are the conditions for this kindof visitor involvement, and learning, tooccur? Goals for what is to happenmust be clear. There must also be

feedback or information given visitorsthat lets them know they are doing theright thing. In addition, the tasks thevisitor is to do must be a good matchto the visitor´s skills and abilities.

Control

One problem is that visitors may findthe museum a confusing and fatiguingenvironment. Modern museums withinteractive displays and time consum-ing audio-visuals challenge visitorseven more. The experience may bestimulating, but difficult to feel thatone is in control. Control refers to theselective part of motivation. How doesthe visitor decide where to look?Where should the visitor go next? Howshould visitors invest the time theyhave that day to see the museum?Control is necessary for the conditionsof flow or intrinsic motivation de-scribed by Csikszentmihalyi andHermanson.

Three things can help establish a senseof control. First, the design of exhi-bits and museum buildings should pro-vide orientation by giving visitors aperception of what is being interpretedand a conceptual basis for understand-ing what they are seeing. Second,guided experiences through groupsled by educators or docents also pro-vide a sense of understanding thathelps the visitor feel in control of themuseum environment. Third, any-thing that makes the visitor feelcomfortable also gives a sense of con-trol. Features, like benches wherevisitors can rest for a minute, that helpto reduce museum fatigue adds to com-fort. Fatigue makes it harder for visi-tors to concentrate. Making interac-tive or participative exhibits easier tounderstand and use also adds to com-fort. Visitors will avoid things thatmake them feel uncomfortable.

Meaningfulness

Psychologists have known for a longtime that if something is meaningfulto the individual it is easier to learnand more apt to be remembered. Thechild that is slow to master lessons inschool can be quick to rememberdetails about sports or some other topicthat is of great interest. Likewise, visi-tors often need some help to under-stand the meaning of objects theyencounter in the museum. Docentpresentations, labels, audio-visuals,interactive exhibits, and computerassisted encounters are all ways tocommunicate meanings to visitors.

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Sometimes the objects themselves andthe way they are exhibited can conveymeaning. Meaningfulness carries itsown intrinsic reward or motivation.Interpretation greatly contributes tomeaningfulness as P. Williams4 hasillustrated in her emphasis on makinga human connection between artobjects and the visitor. Using innova-tive labels and other interpretive aids,visitors to an art museum are encour-aged to learn about the object by learn-ing about the artist as a person. Whydid the artist create the object? Whatwas life like at the time the artist lived?Through these human-connectionlabels, visitors develop a more mean-ingful experience with objects.

I close this part of my paper with aremembrance of an interview I hadwith a museum visitor. The interviewwas not a formal one, but came aboutby accident. I was to leave Austin,Texas by plane. The flight was can-celed because of bad weather. I star-ted a conversation with another pas-senger who was a businessman andhad graduated from my University,Colorado State. He had studied socialscience with an emphasis on history.He had spent that day in Austin goingto historic sites and museums, includ-ing the Lyndon Johnson PresidentialMuseum and Library. He explainedthat his job required traveling and hiscompany had a policy of giving employ-ees an occasional 'free' day to enjoyand relax. He had spent his day as hesaid, 'lost in history'. His reference tobeing lost in history reminded me ofCsikszentmihalyi´s idea of flow. Thebusinessman was especially pleasedwith how his studies at the universityprepared him to understand and expe-rience the historic places he had visi-ted that day. I was impressed with thisimportant relationship between for-mal and informal education. Certainly,he had experienced the rewards ofintrinsically motivated learning.

Evaluation of Visitor Learning

Museums provide visitors with uniquelearning experiences. Earlier it wasmentioned how much work has beendone to research and apply instruc-tional psychology to formal learningenvironments at school and work. Bycomparison, only a small amount ofvisitor learning research has beenundertaken. Such visitor learningresearch must answer questions thatcome from the three basic relation-ships between motivation and learn-ing defined by Melton. That is, wemust come to understand what in the

museum environment excites or cap-tures the visitor's attention. Then, wemust learn how that energizing ofattention can be directed in a way thatincludes a sense of control for the visi-tor and permits a comfortable encoun-ter with the museum. If this encoun-ter results in a meaningful experience,it will become part of what is remem-bered. Unless we engage in suchresearch, hopefully as an internationalcommunity, we can only speculateabout visitor learning.

1 R. M. Gagne and W. Dick, “InstructionalPsychology”, in Mark R. Rosenzweig and LymanW. Porter (eds.), Annual Review of Psychology,Volume 34, Palo Alto, CA, Annual Reviews Inc.,1983, pp. 261-296.

2 A. W. Melton, “Motivation and Performance”,in David C. McClelland (ed.), Studies inMotivation, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York1955, pp. 424-427. It should be noted that Meltondid some of the earliest visitor studies in muse-ums dating back to the 1930s.

3 M. Csikszentmihalyi and K. Hermanson,“Intrinsic motivation in museums: What makesvisitors want to learn?”, Museum News, May/June1995, 74, (3), pp. 34-61.

4 P. Williams, “Making the Connection”, in M. McDermott-Lewis and P. Williams (eds.), TheDenver Art Museum Interpretive Project, DenverArt Museum, Denver 1990, pp. 77-100.

What Can MuseumEducators Learnfrom ConstructivistTheory?

George E. HeinDirector, Program Evaluation

and Research Group,Professor, Graduate School of Arts

and Social Sciences,Lesley College, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A

Résumé

Le constructivisme est une théorie de l´éduca-tion basée sur le postulat suivant : toutapprentissage implique une activité du cer-veau qui conduit à la connaissance. Il expli-que le phénomène bien connu du visiteur qui,dans un musée ou un programme muséal,établit ses significations propres. Un muséeconstructiviste doit offrir des expositions quipermettent au visiteur d´effectuer des rappro-chements qui lui sont familiers, qui l'incitentà une exploration active, l'amènent à mettreen question ses croyances, et œuvrent pourun progrès social.

An observer at the Holocaust Museumin Washington D.C. notes thatHolocaust survivors, conservative

Christians, and teenagers see verydifferent meanings in the exhibitions.He concludes that the visitors' “diversereactions reflect the beliefs and atti-tudes they brought to the museum asmuch as anything they discovered with-in its walls.1” Staff observe a youngvisitor at a new interactive exhibit atthe Boston Museum of Science de-signed to replicate Galileo's experi-ments on falling bodies. The childignores the intended use of the exhi-bit and instead devises a method touse the equipment to measure his ownreaction time2. Such personal exhibi-tion interpretations are common.Should they be encouraged or do theyillustrate problems that need to beovercome in the design of exhibitionsand programs?

Constructivism, a relatively new namefor a cluster of provocative educationaltheories, argues for the inevitability ofthe personal construction of meaning;that we learn by actively constructingunderstanding out of the vast array ofphenomena that impinge on oursenses3. Constructivism suggests thatlearning is an active process in whichthe mind does not simply absorbknowledge bit by bit, but transformswhat is presented to the senses toreach understanding. Further, itargues that the product of this trans-formation - knowledge itself - is alsosomething constructed in the mindrather than an approximation of “truth”residing outside the mind. Thus, con-structivism addresses learning theory(how we acquire knowledge) andepistemology (what knowledge is).

A convenient way to visualize con-structivism in relation to other possi-ble educational theories is to describeall of them in terms of their positionsconcerning epistemology and learningtheory. Theories of education canrange along one dimension in theirbelief that knowledge, the product oflearning, is external or internal in rela-tion to the learner, and along anotherdimension in their belief that the pro-cess of learning is passive or active.The interaction of these two dimen-sions and their possible combinationsis illustrated in the Figure4.

The significance of constructivism foreducation is that it focuses attention onthe activities of the learner, rather thanon the subject to be learned. In con-trast, traditional text-and-lecture educa-tion is premised on beliefs that themost important prerequisites forteaching anything are to understand thestructure of the subject - whether theprinciples of art history, the cultural his-

13

tory of a country, or the concepts ofscience - and then present that subjectto the learner in small components,appropriate to be learned. The peda-gogic task in traditional education is toanalyze the structure and then repro-duce it, starting with the simplest ideaand going to the more complex, in smalldifferentiated blocks suitable forabsorption by a passive mind. Appliedto museums, traditional educationaltheory leads to museum exhibitions andprograms organized by conceptualstructures that depend on the charac-teristics of what is to be exhibited. Thus,exhibitions are arranged chronologi-cally or in other linear patterns to tella specific story, designed to progressfrom the “simplest” to the most “com-plex” idea, or organized in relation tothe perceived structure of a particularacademic discipline.

Criticism of such organization has comenot only from constructivist educators,but also from proponents of the “newmuseology,” who argue that any singleconceptual organization reflects a cura-torially imposed value system, notproperties inherent in the objects.Traditional exhibitions, they argue, usu-ally illustrate and support establishedideas and the dominant culture-intel-lectual, social and political. Such exhi-bitions and programs are likely to ignoreminority cultures, contributions ofoppressed people to society, the role ofwomen both in the past and the pre-sent, or unpopular views and alterna-tive explanations of phenomena.

Accepting constructivist views of howpeople learn as well as what they havelearned requires that we regard thislearner focused approach as an oppor-tunity for education, not a stumblingblock. Besides the journalistic storiesmentioned above, considerable re-search has demonstrated that learnersdo not necessarily accept what has

been taught in traditional school sub-jects. For example, many people'sunderstandings of physics topics taughtin school are highly personal, anddifferent from physicists' acceptedtheories. Even adults who have com-pleted university degrees in technicalsubjects may cling to unorthodoxexplanatory schemes!5 Conversely,many experiences suggest the powerof basing education on familiar topicsof intense personal meaning to thelearner. The literacy methods of PauloFreire illustrate this approach: Adultswith little school experience and lessconfidence in their ability to learnschool subjects can be taught to readwhen the texts they use are aboutfamiliar situations with great signifi-cance for the learner6. Finally, expe-riences in the education of personswith disabilities have taught us thenecessity of making a connection witha learner before education can evenbegin; as illustrated by the example ofHelen Keller's awakening at the waterpump, when she learned her first sign,“water,” as the water flowed over herhand. Only after that mind-enrichingexperience was she able to learn.

To support the development of anactive mind that has a continuallyincreasing capacity to learn, we needto supply museum visitors with mind-enriching experiences. A character-istic that all such experiences share isthe need to start with what is familiarand move beyond to challenge whatpeople already think, know, or can do.Many examples from recent museumeducation work exploit visitors' exist-ing knowledge to create new under-standing. The Victoria and AlbertMuseum has invited southeast Asianwomen into the gallery and used theirexisting crafts skills to assist them tomake a connection to its collections7.A European museum education pro-ject brought together hundreds ofyoung people from several countriesusing the theme of rivers, with eachgroup developing materials from itslocal, familiar waterways to share withothers8. In Botswana, the NationalMuseum uses its collections to travelaround the country and share familiarobjects from the different regions toeducate and build a national culture9.Adult students use a museum's localcultural history collections to enhancetheir memories and their confidencein their ability to learn, as part of acontinuing education course10.

Exhibitions and programs based onconstructivist principles must also chal-lenge visitors, encouraging them tomove beyond familiar thought proces-

ses and established patterns. The dis-play of slave shackles among fine colo-nial silver at a Baltimore HistoricalSociety exhibition provides a dramaticshock to visitors' perceptions, but so doscience exhibits that involve counter-intuitive principles, or art exhibitionsthat juxtapose unexpected subjects.The important component for learningis that the exhibition require visitors togo beyond what they already know andbelieve, but in a manner that is withintheir ability to make the new connec-tion. Such “bridging” ability requiresexhibit design that allows unusualconnections without confusing the visi-tors. For visitors, the ability to makenew associations is determined as muchby personal background as by demo-graphic attributes such as age, socialstatus, or level of schooling.

Another requirement of constructivisteducation is the ability for the learnerto engage with the material to be learn-ed, not just to view it passively.“Interactive” exhibitions are required;exhibitions that allow the senses andthe mind to explore, change, and ques-tion. Exhibits that allow visitors to orga-nize and reorganize material, carry outexperiments (not just push buttons!),or facilitate connections betweencomponents and examine the conse-quences of these insights provide suchopportunities. Exhibitions should notbe linear, but allow visitors to designtheir route, they should permit physi-cal interaction with objects as much aspossible, and provide varieties of expla-nations. Constructivist exhibitions bothraise questions and provide visitors withavenues to explore possible answers tothese questions.

Finally, constructivism recognizes thepower and importance of social inter-action in learning. Language is impor-tant; learning is facilitated when familymembers or peers examine togetherand are stimulated to converse by theobjects and displays they encounter.Visitor studies research provides manyillustrations that demonstrate the learn-ing that comes from talk of all kinds.Schools have begun to recognize theimportance of cooperative learning,museums have yet to fully exploit thispowerful component of education.There are few exhibitions that require,or even encourage, conversation amongvisitors to fully interact with the mate-rial. Despite the fact that the vast majo-rity of museum visitors come in groups,most exhibitions are still designed forthe single visitor.

Constructivism suggests clear direc-tions for museum exhibitions and pro-

14

Learning Theory

Knowledge exists

independent of knower

Active

Learning

Knowledge exists inside

the learners' mind

TraditionalLecture andText

DiscoveryLearning

Stimulus -Response

Constructivism

Passive

Learning

A Schematic Outline of EducationalTheories

Theory of

Learning

Knowledge

Theory

grams. It points towards interactiveexhibitions which encourage groupsof visitors to generate their own mean-ings by providing a range of interpre-tations and novel ways to makeconnections, always acknowledgingthat visitors must be able to recognizesomething familiar to them in order togain intellectual access.

1 P. Gurewitch, New York Sunday Times,2 February 1995.

2 D. L. Chandler, Boston Globe, 1 April 1996.3 L. P. Steffe and J. Gale, Constructivism and

Education, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale,1995.

4 I have discussed this diagram in more detailin the Proceedings of the CECA Annual Meetingin Cuenca, Ecuador, October, 1994 (in press), and G. E. Hein, “The Constructivist Museum”, Journal for Education in Museums, 16/1995, pp. 21-23.

5 L. C. McDermott, “Research on ConceptualUnderstanding in Phyics”, Physics Today , 37/1984,pp. 24-32.

6 P. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , Herder& Herder, New York 1970.

7 S. Akbar, “The Nehru Gallery national tex-tile project”, Museums for Integration in aMulticultural Society, Proceedings of the AnnualCECA Conference, l993. p. 88.

8 S. Rozé, “L'Europe des fleuves”, N. Gesché(ed.) European Museum Communication, ICOM-CECA Regional meeting, Brussels, l993.

9 K. Cederstand, “Zebra on Wheels; On Tourwith the Mobile Museum in Botswana”, ICOMEducation 15/1995, pp. 13-15.

10 D. Horwich, “First and Second Chance toLearn, an oral history project”, ICOM Education14/1994, pp. 38-40.

Ateliers de peintureet reconstitutionsd´époque : del utilité et de l abusdes ateliers aumusée*

Michael CassinHead of Education

The National Galleries of ScotlandEdinburgh, U.K.

Summary

Many museums offer practical workshop ses-sions for children and adults. These are usu-ally described as alternatives to the tradi-tional “talking about a painting or an objectin a gallery” type of museum visit. The popu-larity of workshops in recent years has tosome extent shifted the balance: in someplaces they are now more traditional thangallery talks. The suggestion implicit in thisway of thinking is that the latter kind of acti-vity is somehow not as exciting or reward-ing as the former. This is: a) debatable, and

b) surely an extremely alarming attitude formembers of museum staff to hold let aloneto promote. Maybe the time has come fora re-evaluation of museum workshop prac-tice. Maybe the time has come for muse-ums to get back to dealing directly with thereal things in their collections which are, afterall, the reasons for their existence.

Je déteste les ateliers. Je les ai toujoursdétestés. Je ne les aimais guère quandje devais les faire et je les hais encoreplus aujourd´hui. Je crois que celui quim´a le plus déplu est celui sur la pein-ture de paysage qui ne devait attirer quetrois participants : une fillette de septans, un garçon de quatorze ans (venuavec sa toile pré-apprêtée) et un chan-teur de jazz quinquagénaire en vogue!

J´ai longtemps cru que ma haine résul-tait du désordre créé par de tels ate-liers et du danger qu´ils constituaient.Je continuais néanmoins à les prati-quer, plus je crois pour répondre àl´attente du public que par la convic-tion de leur valeur éducative. A l´heureactuelle, je considère que mon rôle estde convaincre le public qu´il existedes alternatives à ces ateliers.

Les musées et les galeries d´art ont legrand avantage de posséder des collec-tions d´objets et d´images que leurbeauté, leur intérêt, leur côté ludiquerendent plus qu´attrayants et stimu-lants. Ils offrent cette chance uniquede pouvoir découvrir et explorer desœuvres originales. La spécificité decette expérience face à face est toutaussi précieuse que la conservationmême des collections.

Dans un musée d´art, l´approche desœuvres peut être multiple. Elles invi-

tent au regard, à la réflexion, à ladiscussion, au dessin, à la copie, à laré-interprétation, etc. Chacune de cesapproches a son utilité pour autantqu´elle ait lieu face aux objets et soitla plus directe possible.

Au début de ma carrière, j´ai utiliséces différentes approches. J´avais carteblanche pour toutes mes activités, ycompris les ateliers pratiques qui sedéroulaient dans les salles mêmes dumusée. Allier ainsi la pratique à lathéorie s´avère très gratifiant. Par con-tre, le but recherché s´estompe nette-ment et les déviations sont aiséesquand ces ateliers ont lieu loin desœuvres. Il nous est arrivé de nous lais-ser emporter par le côté ludique d´unatelier au point d´en oublier le lienavec l´œuvre du musée. Ce fut notam-ment le cas de l´atelier qui devait voirla réalisation de sculptures à base denourriture, réalisées au soleil, aumilieu du trafic et sous le regard despassants! Mais j´étais jeune à l´époque!

Aujourd´hui j´ai mûri, et la situationme tracasse. La précarité de nos res-sources nous oblige à nous demandersi ces ateliers sont vraiment bénéfi-ques. Est-ce que nous ne surestimonspas leur efficacité? Sont- ils véritable-ment plus rentables que toute autreforme d´activité muséale? Si l´atelierau milieu des œuvres peut à la rigueurse défendre, peut-il vraiment se justi-fier dans des locaux où des reproduc-tions remplacent les œuvres origi-nales? Quel bénéfice un musée peut-il retirer de cours d´art organisés loindes œuvres?

Confectionner, copier, réinterpréter nesont que quelques uns des aspects deces ateliers au musée. Un domaine quime tracasse davantage est celui desateliers où les œuvres peuvent êtretouchées et où le public est invité à sedéguiser. Afin de rendre l´ensembleplus acceptable, ce type d´atelier est leplus souvent destiné aux enfants, quisont invités à troquer leurs vêtementscontre d´autres plus insolites ayantappartenu de près ou de loin à despersonnes d´origines et d´époquesdifférentes. Il arrive même que cer-tains objets hors vitrine puissent êtrepris, caressés et touchés. Ces ateliersne font en général pas appel à desœuvres originales ni à des œuvres dequalité, trop fragiles, précieuses, voire«spéciales». Au contraire, les costumesutilisés ne sont que des «reproduc-tions» (Quand une reproduction cesse-t-elle d´être une reproduction? Quandelle est un trucage!), les objets fontpartie d´une collection «palpable»(Quand un objet est-il digne de pou-

15

voir être manipulé? Quand il fait par-tie d´une collection palpable) ou man-quent de spécificité (En quoi un muséediffère-t-il de tout autre lieu? Par lefait qu´il contient des objets tout à faitspéciaux. Ceux-ci sont si peu spéciauxqu´ils peuvent être manipulés à loisir!)

J´aime bien sûr les déguisements etl´idée de dépaysement qui en découle:quelle curieuse impression quand ona l´habitude de porter des blue-jeanset des T-shirts de tout à coup revêtirdes crinolines! Mais ces déguisementsrendent-ils vraiment le passé plus pré-sent comme d´aucuns voudraientl´affirmer? J´ai quelque doute à cesujet. Comment le fait de porter pen-dant un court instant des vêtementsreproduits, inodores et intacts peut-ilnous aider à mieux comprendre la viedes femmes de pêcheurs de Newhavenen Ecosse vers 1840 telles qu´ellesapparaissent sur les photos calotypede Hill & Adamson, voire saisir toutesles subtilités de ce type de photogra-phie, et qui plus est, comprendre ceque ces images ont de commun ensensibilité, beauté, délicatesse, force,complexité visuelle et pouvoir émotifavec d´autres arts visuels?

Si tant est que le recours au déguise-ment permet de raviver le passé, pour-quoi alors ne pas le faire sérieuse-ment? Employons des pantalons enpeau de chamois qui n´ont plus guèreété lavés depuis des semaines, desmois, voire des années ou des corsetsen os de baleine qui vous défoncentles côtes. Ajoutons aux reproductionsdes robes de ces femmes de Newhavenun peu d´eau de mer, des écailles depoisson, le tout agrémenté d´un peude sueur humaine et de suie incrustéedu XIXe siècle ; aspergeons nos orteilsd´un peu de sable et d´autres matièresinnommables : alors seulement pour-rons-nous peut-être un tant soit peunous identifier à ces femmes.

Mais là aussi, abstenons-nous. Pour-quoi ne pas tout simplement regarderla photo (le tableau, la peinture,l´objet)? Prenons le temps d´analyserl´œuvre authentique et consacrons luile temps nécessaire afin d´en saisirtoute la magie. Après tout, comme jel´ai déjà dit, ces œuvres font la parti-cularité de nos institutions. Si noussommes incapables de les utiliser pourévoquer le passé ou éveiller un quel-conque sentiment artistique, c´est quenous faisons fausse route.

Je crois que beaucoup d´entre nousorganisent des ateliers non pas à causede leur succès, mais pour des raisonsmoins avouables qui sont l´habitude, la

réponse à une demande du public, etosons le dire, par manque d´imagina-tion.

Ceci m´amène à un autre constat. Cetype d´atelier et le raisonnement quien découle pourraient renforcer l´idéeque certains collègues extérieurs àl´éducation se font de nos serviceséducatifs, à savoir qu´ils ne sontdestinés qu´aux enfants, qu´ils se limi-tent à des ateliers où l´on se déguise,le tout le plus généralement loin descollections du musée. Ceci peut avoirdes conséquences fâcheuses (voireinquiétantes) pour notre statut, notreplace d´éducateurs au sein de l´insti-tution muséale, voire des fonds quinous sont alloués.

Il se pourrait que les ateliers aient euleur heure de gloire. Est-ce que leurpoursuite, avec ce que cela impliquecomme dépense de temps, d´énergie(d´argent et d´autres ressources), n´estpas simplement du temps consacré, nonpas à essayer de faire revivre le passépour le public, mais une manière denous confiner nous-mêmes dans lepassé?

* Cet article (traduction N. Gesché) a faitl´objet d´une communication en anglais lors dela conférence régionale européenne du CECA àBruxelles, M. Cassin, «Painting classes, dressing-up and living in the past: utility of workshops inmuseums», European Museum Communication(N. Gesché, ed.), pp. 61-70. Le côté provocateurdélibéré devait conduire à un débat passionnésur ce sujet controversé.

Do the Right Thing:Museums Need aMore VariedAudience whichEducation MustHelp to Achieve

Manus BrinkmanDirector of the Nederlandse

MuseumverenigingAmsterdam, The Netherlands

Résumé

La conservation et la présentation sont lesprincipales tâches d´un musée. Ce postulatpeut toutefois être interprété de plusieursmanières. Des générations de conservateursont à grand peine rassemblé des objets, qu´ilsse sont par la suite efforcés d´étudier et declasser selon les règles en vigueur. Ils les ont

le plus souvent présenté au public en tropgrande quantité, et sans assez d´informations.Les étiquettes ne comprenaient générale-ment que quelques dates, le nom du fabri-cant ou l´éventuel lieu d´origine. Promouvoirune meilleure compréhension de l´objet pourle visiteur a rarement été prioritaire. Or, lemusée est bien là pour le public. L´Associationdes musées néerlandais sert de lien entre lesdifférents musées de mêmes spécialités et demêmes fonctions, dans un même but depromotion auprès du public.

Preservation and presentation are theprincipal tasks of a museum. Everyoneagrees on this, but there are many differ-ent ways of interpreting it. Generationsof curators took great pains to collectobjects and, if successful, to describeand store them according to the prevail-ing rules. They were also presented to the public, but such displays wereusually long on quantity and short oninformation, i.e. a maximum of objectsand a minimum of information: label-ling rarely went beyond a few dates, thename of the makers, or the find spots.The idea of promoting better unders-tanding or insight on the part of thevisitor was seldom a priority.

Even nowadays one could point tocountless examples of such an ap-proach. Many modern art galleriesand art museums for instance take itfor granted that art should speak foritself. Often the only information theyprovide is a label with the name of theartist - unknown to many visitors - andthe date of the work of art. Genuineenthusiasts can, of course, fall back onthe information provided in the exhi-bition catalogue, but this is not cheap.And then there are the natural historymuseums, where row upon row ofstuffed animals stare the confused visi-tor in the face. Even the old clichéline of arrow heads or earthenwarepots is still with us.

Such museums do not take the trans-fer of knowledge and ideas veryseriously; in fact, they are disdainfulof education. Even where museumsdo have education officers, this is noguarantee that they will pursue aneducational strategy. Education offic-ers are often appointed by the museumdirector, whether from conviction orbecause of political pressure. But thisdoes nothing to diminish the disdaindisplayed by curators. Education offic-ers are allowed to organise marginalevents, as long as they do not inter-fere with the substance of a presenta-tion. Their salaries are lower thanthose of the curators and their pre-sence is less often required at impor-tant in-house meetings.

16

Because the top priority in museums iscollection and collection preservation,staff members directly concerned withpreservation are regarded as having aright to determine the way the collec-tion is presented. It was not until the1970s that education was takenseriously and granted a definite placein museums, but many of those initialachievements have since been eroded.Nor can the educators themselvesescape some of the blame for this: intheir eagerness to join the museum elitethey often developed a similar disdainfor the visitors. And although theirapproach was more subtle - they maskedtheir low opinion in ideological jargon - the results were the same:visitors were often just as baffled bythe education projects as they had beenby the cryptic language of the curators.

So far the battle is still going on, notonly against the sacrosanct curatorsbut also against the pedantry in themuseums themselves. But time is onour side. The question “who owns themuseums” is one that is being heardmore and more often nowadays.Funding authorities are naturally disap-pointed to discover time and again thatrising attendance figures are largelydue to an increase in repeated visits bythe loyal band of more highly educa-ted people. More and more people arestarting to ask why we need museumsat all. And the museums can only an-swer that question satisfactorily bypresenting a policy aimed at reachingas many people as possible. Centraland local government should help toachieve this by granting museums themeans to implement such a policy. Ifcultural heritage is to be made moreaccessible to a larger part of the popu-lation, education officers can make anessential contribution to this, not leastby establishing good relations withschools. In the process, educators maywell become the pilots safely steeringmuseums past the cliffs and rocks ofpublic skepticism (public indifference)into the open sea of wider public parti-cipation.

One of the most challenging tasks inrelation to public participation is themulticultural society. In a regular schoolin the big cities of the Netherlands moreoften than not the percentage of “orig-inal” Dutch children is less than 50%.This means that a large part of the poten-tial museum visitors consists of peoplewith many different cultural back-grounds. Museums should realise thatto be attractive to this visitor-group theyhave to offer them something: in thefield of presentations (and not onlytemporary exhibitions or events), of

research, collecting, and last but notleast, in the field of personnel manage-ment. The staff of a museum (inclu-ding curators and directors) should inthe long run also be a reasonable repre-sentation of the society a museum owesits existence to. After having led themuseums over the open sea of publicparticipation educators are in my opin-ion in the leading position to steer theminto the safe multicultural harbour afterthe storms and waves of misunderstand-ing, prejudice and racism.

Fortunately an increasing number ofmuseums are now taking educationseriously, working from the premisethat museums exist for the public andnot vice versa. In the meanwhile,educational work has had the oppor-tunity to develop in these museums, ofwhich there are many commendableexamples. Other museums can taketheir cue from these examples toimprove their own situation and it isimportant to keep informed about theirprogrammes and preferably to visitthem and study their approach. It isnot enough only to act from one's ownnational basis. Participation and themulticultural society are internationalphenomena. A group of Dutch museumdirectors made a study tour to theUnited Kingdom to discuss challengesin the field of access related to groupsfrom several cultures. Besides think-ing about theoretical concepts the visit gave them many concrete ideaswhich in the past year have been real-ised in each of their museums. For usthis has been a good example of suc-cessful international exchange. Ofcourse there are many other possibi-lities for international cooperation.

The exchange of ideas is of course alsonecessary at national level. Althoughthere is exchange of information, it isoften on a fairly ad hoc basis: col-leagues drop in because they want tomount an exhibition on the same theme,a group of government-sponsoredpeople makes a working visit abroad.It is preferable that the exchange ofexperience and the joint research anddevelopment should be conducted ona coordinated basis and this calls forsome kind of umbrella organisation.This could be an association of fellow-educators perhaps, or a regional ornational government. The best solu-tion, however, is an independentnational museums organisation, main-tained by the museums, where col-leagues can collaborate on a regularbasis. The Netherlands has such anorganisation in the form of theNetherlands Museums Association(Nederlandse Museumvereniging,

NMV). It is maintained by its members,the museums. These have recognisedthe need for an organisation capable oflobbying on their behalf in the politicalarena. Furthermore they consider itimportant that such an association helpsto promote the professional expertiseof their staff. National workshops, sym-posia, study tours, research, courses,and newsletters can serve to establishand maintain contact among museumstaff. Like ICOM, the NMV has disci-pline-related committees, one of thelargest being the education committee.The museums, as it were, pay the NMVto set up contacts among their respec-tive specialist staff for the advance-ment of that speciality.

The NMV has developed a matrix struc-ture with “vertical” and “horizontal”committees. The vertical committeespromote contacts between all themuseum officers in a particular kind ofmuseum; the horizontal committeespromote the contacts per discipline.

This structure makes it possible to orga-nise specific activities, for instance forall education officers across the entirespectrum of museums. By the sametoken, art galleries (art museums) canorganise activities for everyone workingin art galleries (art museums), fromregistrars to educators. The commit-tees often organise joint meetings. Forinstance, the education committee mayget together with the PR committee todiscuss their common tasks: “commu-nicating with the visitor”.

The education committee is the larg-est section, and not without reason.The NMV believes that education isone of the most important elements ofthe museum's presentation task. Theeducation committee tries to add asurplus value to the education activi-ties of the individual museums.

Let me discuss a few of them.

1. Peer review of exhibitions, wherebya museum agrees to be visited by agroup of colleagues. Members of theeducation committee can enroll to visita particular exhibition; their task isto view it critically and to say whatthey think about it. This can turn outto be pleasant or painful for the exhi-bition maker, but the ultimate purposeof such assessment visits is to raisethe overall level of museums (museumpresentation).

2. Well-prepared study tours (mostrecently to the United Kingdom and theUSA). Apart from the confrontation withother ways of doing things, an impor-

17

tant spin-off of such a tour is that for aperiod of ten days some thirty or fortycolleagues continuously discuss thetheory and practice of their work. Oneach occasion the contacts made duringthe tour have formed the basis of a net-work of participants, who have gone onto organise joint projects, visit one an-other, or undertake joint research.

3. Open information days, for instanceabout innovations in education as such.

4. National debates on interesting issues.The NMV organised, for instance, twobig national debates on participation andthe multicultural society, and issued twobooks about the theme.

5. Political lobbying. Several times theNMV put the multicultural society highon the agenda of politicians.

6. Membership of a larger organisa-tion serves to strengthen the voice ofeach individual committee. I know,for instance, that the education com-mittee continually raises the matter ofpublic participation with the NMV.This is not a bad thing, because itmakes people sit up and take notice.

And should the educator turn out to bethe pilot, one had better listen carefully!

Advanced Studies in Museum Studiesat the FederalAcademy

Andreas Grünewaldt-SteigerHead of the Department

for Museum StudiesWolfenbüttel, Germany

Résumé

L´Académie fédérale d'études culturelles deWolfenbüttel a notamment pour tâched´assurer l´éducation permanente en matièrede pédagogie muséale.Chaque année une sériede séminaires consacrés à l´éducation dans lesmusées est offerte à tous les éducateurs demusée, leur donnant ainsi l´occasion de par-faire leurs connaissances - acquises le plus souvent sur le tas, étant donné le manqued´institutions spécialisées en pédagogie muséale.

The problem is well known. Untilnow, no university has yet ventured to set up a course in “Museum

Pedagogics”. Apart from small attemptswithin the established departments ofclassical basic museum sciences, andpilot projects within new museumstudies courses, there is no universallyrecognised curriculum. Why, then, acourse in museum pedagogics at theFederal Academy for cultural studies?

In a paper dated October 84 on the“Explanation of the concept with regardto content” of the work of the Academy,we find under the subheading“Museum” the following: With the aidof the methods of museum pedagogics,an attempt is being made, in the bestway possible, to make the exhibits acces-sible to the visitors and help them tounderstand them in their greater con-text, and further: The pedagogicalaspect of the museum guide's presenta-tion exerts a direct influence on the de-velopment of the museum's visitor-attendance figures. These two quotationsseem to be symptomatic of the “inven-tion” of our new fifth department at theAcademy. Although in the FederalRepublic of Germany the discussion onthe requirements and contents ofmuseum pedagogics has been going onfor over two decades now, and themuseum as an institution has becomedistinctly more visitor friendly, a cer-tain amount of uneasiness has obviouslyremained concerning the forms andmethods of approach of many muse-ums towards their educational mis-sion. Exaggerating, the reasoning couldbe formulated as follows: when apresentation is made in a museum, itis as a rule not understood by the visi-tors. Only a museum educator is in aposition to transform the educationalcontent of an exhibition into questionswhich will guide the visitors along thepath to knowledge. Once this has beenachieved, assuming that the museum educator has correctly understood his assigned task, the museum willenjoy a success which will show up invisitor-attendance statistics. Themuseum will then have at its disposalan impressive means of legitimising itsclaim to funding from the EC, federaland municipal budgets for the comingyear.

Although the way of looking at thingspointedly described above - and whichwere prevalent in the early 1980s -was of no significance for museumpedagogics from the content point ofview, it had a certain influence on itsmanifestations which was all the moreclearly in evidence.

Whether it be that in many places thistype of argumentation was success-fully used to win the politicians´ sup-

port for the setting-up of new posts formuseum educators (sometimes withinthe scheme of the Labour Exchange'sjob creation programme), or that theestablished museologists graduallycame to recognise their colleagues ineducation as equals and to seek andoffer the necessary co-operation at anever-increasing degree, this resultedin the creation of practical advancedcourses in museum pedagogics.Groups were formed, such as theregional museum education workinggroups and their supra-regional, theBundesverband Museumspädagogik,which, thanks to public funding, offerspractical courses for further qualifica-tion. Among the participating institu-tions let us mention the ReinwardtAcademy from the Netherlands, theWorking Group for Theoretical andApplied Museology in Vienna, and ofcourse, our own institution.

The Department of Museum Studiesfinds itself in a line of developmentwhich has not necessarily been sustain-ed by the conviction that museumeducation is a recognised specialbranch of museum science. The lackof reflection described above placesthe Federal Academy in a paradoxicalsituation. It must, on one side, be opento a determined heterogeneous publiccoming from the most varied fields ofeducation and study; on the other hand,the offer is limited to the so-called multi-pliers, i.e. the colleagues who are al-ready equipped with a basic knowledgeof museum education (whatever it maybe). If the Academy sees itself mainlyas an institution for advanced studies,it also becomes, due to its exposedposition on the museum educationscene, a place where compensationmust be made for the deficits in univer-sity curricula. Although our departmentcannot replace the university, it can leadto some quite interesting developmentswhich link both theoretical educationand practice.

Advanced Studies in MuseumEducation: the Theory of the Practice

In 1991, a new head was assigned tothe Department of Museum Educationand among the seminars offered thatyear let us mention “Methodology ofconducting guided tours”, “Marketingfor museum educators”. A seminar wasalso organised on “Cultural tourism”.However, the primary function of theseencounters was mainly to qualitativelyre-establish the presence of museumeducators on the museum scene.

If museum education can be consid-ered as one of the most important

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tasks with which museums are faced,there is however an ever greater riskof the education departments beingforced into a secondary role by theappointment of non-professionalmuseum educators. The present stateof museum education as a relativelyyoung science with an unstructuredtheoretical superstructure and diver-gent methodological systematics, addsto this situation. Therefore, the FederalAcademy intends to open its seminars,through an interdisciplinary workingmethod, to people in other areas ofmuseum work, i.e. scientists in specialtopics, architects, draughtsmen, au-thors, journalists, university profes-sors, etc., conveying and elucidatingat the same time the pretensions ofmuseum education.

The Department has no interest insingle-handed tasks. It must be anopen forum where colleagues fromthe museum field and professionalassociations like the BundesverbandMuseumpädagogik, CECA, the Germannational museum committee and otherregional associations, are animated toan intensive exchange of ideas. Thisrole as a centre of advanced studiesand exchange of experience is partic-ularly clear about taking into consid-eration the co-operation with the newfederal states from the former GermanDemocratic Republic. The departmentdoes not regard itself as a vehicle ofa universally recognised theory ofmuseum education, but rather as a“forum” where the focus is set on thepossibility of public and expert discus-sion based on infrastructure and con-tent. In this way, critical reflectionand continual review of educationalpretensions become possible.

An additional task is to collect andmake available museum publicationsand other literature, which is oftendifficult to obtain. Fundamentalresearch is another supplementarywork area which must be regarded asan indispensable component of quali-fied advanced studies. It is the basisfor possible analysis and evaluationwork in museum practice. In this con-text, the most important form is thesurveying of “grey literature” and thecompilation and documentation ofmuseum education practical models.

The education programme offered in1996 is divided into the following cate-gories:1. Courses with practice:

Exhibition design and museumeducationProject managementText in museums

Music in/for museumsMethods of conducting guided tours

2. Meetings: The theory of the practice:Change of venue: Two museums,two settings? The Sprengel Museum in Hannover and the Artsmuseum in WolfsburgChildren's Museums: Phantom orpractice?Personal mediation

3. Symposia and colloqua on museumtheory:

The Open museumMuseum philosophy: The Metro-politan Museum/the Cloisters, NewYork

4. Courses on different aspects ofmuseum work:

Museum organisationFinancial strategyPublic relationsMethods of moderation

5. Forums:Projects for museum educators incultural historical museumsExpert conversation: Cultural adulteducation

This year, the programme has beenconsiderably extended with the intro-duction of further education and quali-fication. The Bundesverband Museums-pädagogik and the German Museumassociation, together with the finan-cial aid and support of the Robert-Bosch Foundation, have been able toprovide a programme pack which willenable students to acquire furthereducation certificates.

New Technologyand its Implicationsfor EducationalWork

Alison M. HeathCurator and Educator

South Godstone, United Kingdom

Résumé

Ordinateurs, Internet et World Wide Web,bases de données électroniques, multimédia,réalité virtuelle : véritable panacée pour cer-tains éducateurs de musée, mais sujet deméfiance pour la majorité, quand ces nou-velles technologies ne sont pas totalementignorées. Il est pourtant évident que les possi-bilités offertes sont multiples : elles permet-tront aux éducateurs de développer des pro-grammes et projets excitants, longtemps

considérés du domaine du rêve. La techno-logie n´en est qu´à ses débuts et les pro-grammes au stade expérimental. Ils requiè-rent d'importants moyens, et exigent parconséquent un regard attentif de la part desmusées afin de ne pas se laisser séduire pardes produits qui offriraient l'impossible.

Computers, the Internet and the WorldWide Web, electronic databases, multi-media and Virtual Reality seen by somemuseum educators as a panacea, aretotally ignored by others and are cer-tainly regarded with deep suspicion bymany. It is clear that they offer inter-esting solutions to many projects thatare already held dear, but they willalso enable museum educators todevelop exciting new schemes andprogrammes that they have neverdreamed were possible. As yet thetechnology is still in its infancy andmuch of the software (programmes)and the hardware (machinery) areonly in a developmental stage. Becauseit is still a very expensive tool, muse-ums must be careful not to be seducedby the dreams of developers into thinking that more is possible thanhas yet been achieved.

There are five main areas that appearto be the most exciting for museumeducators, so far... They are: extend-ed multimedia electronic databases,the new possibilities for the scientificstudy of artefacts, the use of “do-it-yourself” multimedia for teaching, the potential of the Internet forcommunication and the exchange ofinformation and the use of VirtualReality to create and recreate objects,places and worlds. These are the areas that will be discussed in thisarticle.

Any museum that has more than a fewhundred objects will benefit from thecreation of an electronic database toinventory, accession, research anddocument that collection. Such a data-base can provide an exciting route tofurther accessibility to the collectionfor educators. It can lead to carefullyresearched and tailored groups ofobjects being made available to an-swer specific educational require-ments. Museum educators do notnecessarily need access to vast quan-tities of similar or nearly identicalitems but need to be able to selectobjects that are relevant to their parti-cular carefully planned and specifiedtopic. These items need to be fullyresearched and documented. Themultimedia database offers the oppor-tunity for the provision of text, imagesof the object and of related objects,sound archive, even video material

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and references for further study.Material can constantly be added andamended; much of this research maybe relevant to whole groups of similarobjects in a collection. All this infor-mation can be cross-referenced so thatit can be made accessible to the stu-dent as he or she pursues individuallines of research.

Curators and conservators now makeuse of a wide range of scientific equip-ment and skills to study the objects intheir collections. It is possible to modelthree-dimensional computer imagesof objects, that can be turned, moved,changed in colour, lit from differentangles and generally manipulated sothat they can be studied in minutedetail without the object itself everbeing touched (and by using a virtualreality helmet and gloves the objectactually appears to be “in your hands”to be turned and weighed as the realthing). It is possible to take a digitalimage of a painting and remove allcolour so that brush strokes can bestudied, elements of the picture can bemoved and duplicated, in fact thewhole image can be manipulated tostudy composition and construction,ceramics can be studied in the sameways, and by searching databases forsimilar forms, decorative motifs ormaterials, the possibilities are legion.

In America a nature reserve has beencompletely equipped with every scien-tific measuring and recording device;the site may only be visited by screenand keyboard but readings may betaken of temperature, rainfall, weath-er conditions etc., cameras can bemoved and focused by the visitor tosee and study whatever intereststhem... The visitors certainly do nothave to move from their armchair andit is, of course, far less invasive of theactual nature reserve than allowingthe trampling of human visitors.

There are two main areas of VirtualReality that are relevant to museumeducators; one has already been men-tioned above. The second is “fly-throughs” and “walk-throughs”; it isentirely possible to take a walk in VirtualReality through an historic buildingwhich has been reconstructed, deco-rated and furnished - even peopled - indifferent periods of its history. Worksof art, furniture and furnishings maybe seen in their original locations.Computer images can be manipulatedto allow the visitor to walk into a paint-ing and view it from completely dif-ferent perspectives. Satellite imagingand archaeologist-drawn maps andplans allow the three-dimensional

reconstruction of archaeological sitesin great detail with considerable accuracy. The satellite images allowexploration of geological features, weather patterns and pollution.

Materials may be drawn from a varietyof sources for study and comparison.Many museums, archives and librariesare now making their databases, ofimages and multimedia informationabout their collections, widely avail-able through CD-ROM, cable and theInternet. Through these means it willbe possible to collect images of paint-ings or sculpture, pottery forms anddesigns, examples of insects, pieces ofmachinery, samples of weaving orminerals from across the world in afew moments. These images can thenbe used, manipulated and printed outby the individual student for their studypurposes. The potential to do this isalready there but the provision of elec-tronic access is partial to say the least,and full coverage will remain a dreamat least until the next century. Theproblem of copyright is also inherentin all these activities and much workis being done to find fair and work-able solutions to these issues. It is clearthat where most museums and librar-ies would be very happy to see theirimages being drawn upon and usedfreely by schoolchildren for their pro-jects they would be less than delight-ed to find that a commercial publisherwas making use of that same freeaccess for purposes of publication.Simple means are available to requiredifferent groups to pay at varying ratesfor the use they make of such material, and discussions are under-way in Europe and America as to thestructures that need to be put in place.

All this information that is and willbecome available “on-line” can bedownloaded and used to create multi-media guides to galleries, exhibitions,natural and archaeological sites andhistoric buildings. The material canbe supplemented by in-house inter-pretation and additions through whichvisitors can navigate following theirown specific interests. Learning bydoing is so much more effective andmany schools and colleges are makinguse of these new facilities to createtheir own projects, multimedia presen-tations instead of written essays ongiven topics. In many European coun-tries there are national competitions,for schools´ multimedia presentations.In Italy a prize is offered to studentsof art history and architecture for thebest multi-media guides to historicbuildings and collections. This will be extended through the Esprit

Programme of the European Com-munity to cover the whole of Europein the next few years.

This may all seem a long way away,but in England alone one third of pri-mary schools already have access toCD-ROM technology, which means thatan even higher proportion of sec-ondary schools have the necessaryequipment, and six thousand schoolsalready have access to the Internet. Theavailability of such facilities is spread-ing rapidly throughout the world. Incertain schools every child in the classhas designed and maintains his or herown “home page” on the Internet. TheDalton School in New York is a pioneerin this field. Via video-conferencing,the World Wide Web, News Groups andE-mail, children in the classroom will“visit” and interrogate collections andcurators on the other side of the world,all for the price of a local phone call.Specialists on another continent parti-cipate in research into a particularobject or collection, and MuseumEducators can joint their own discus-sion group, MUSCUM-ED (to suscribeemail LISTPROC@MTN.ORG).

However museums should be awarethat approximately 80% of all Internetusers are male, under thirty and white.This dominance is quite easily under-stood given the age group and theavailability of disposable income. Themale - female split appears to resultfrom the fact that girls will only usenew technology if it will answer theirquestions quicky and easily, whereasboys will continue to manipulate themachinery for the fun of the process.

However, when museums are offeredthe possibility of making their collec-tions more widely available and acces-sible, many are concerned that ifpeople can visit their collections inVirtual Reality they will no longer wishto visit for themselves. Research appears to be proving the reverse, that having seen a gallery or an objectin Virtual Reality people want to seethe real thing for themselves. ProfessorPaolo Galluzi, Director of the Museumof the History of Science in Florence[http://galileo.imss.firenze.it] reportsthat in 1995 whilst most museums inFlorence experienced a decrease of 8-14% in visitor figures, his museumsaw an increase of 45%.

There are already some six hundredmuseums listed in the Virtual Libraryof Museums [http://www.comlab.x.ac/uk/archive/other/museums.html] andit receives 1,500 browsers each day.Nicholas Pioch´s Webmuseum in

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France [http://mistral.enst.fr] has200,000 visitors per week whilst theExploratorium in San Francisco[http://www.exploratorium.edu] re-ceives half a million visitors of whomabout a third are outside the USA.

But moving forwards, scientists aredeveloping complete “communicationsystems”, that will be possible to “strapon” each morning just as one wears awrist-watch or even a shirt. A key-board will no longer be necessary, theequipment will have voice recogni-tion, and instead of a screen the infor-mation will be projected directly ontothe cornea; imagine what we couldachieve with this for our visitors...

U. Eco, Travels in Hyperreality, Secker & Warburg,1986 (ISBN 0 330 29667 1)

N. Negroponte, Being Digital, Hodder & Stoughton,1995 (ISBN 0 340 64930 5)

A. Fahy & W. Dudbury (eds.), Information: theHidden Resource, Museums and the Internet, TheMuseum Documentation Association, 1996 (ISBN0 905963 96 2)

A Supplement of VR News, Virtual Heritage ´95,Vol. 5 Issue 1, Jan/Feb 1996 (ISSN 1 360 3485)

The Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/conservation/jcms/].

Skoletjenesten, anEducation Centre inCopenhagen.New Challengestowards year 2000

Poul VestergaardHead of Education

Skoletjenesten, Copenhagen

Résumé

Les activités éducatives des musées deCopenhague sont gérées par un centre édu-catif. Celui-ci a pour tâche de coordonnerles visites et animations dans les différentsmusées, et de veiller à la qualité des pro-grammes offerts. La participation active desenfants est l'une de ses priorités. Le succèsque connaît le centre n´empêche toutefoispas les responsables de se tourner vers lefutur, et de prévoir de nouvelles lignes deconduite pour les années à venir.

It is just before 10 a.m. The sun is shin-ing after a period of cloudy and rainyweather. A school class from the sub-urbs of Copenhagen is waiting in front

of the entrance to the National Museumtogether with other school classes fromdifferent parts of the region. The soundlevel tends to be noisy; some are talk-ing, others are pushing each other forfun. Most of them are looking forwardto the visit, but some do not seem tocare. They just have to be there: itwould be nicer to enjoy the good weath-er on a day off.

Inside, in the education room designedas a Viking age landscape with tent,workshops, a copy of a Viking ship,copies of tools and painted wings, eachschoolchild gets a real Viking age nameand dresses in Viking clothes (copiesbased on information from originalfinds from the period). Slowly, themood changes: the pupils are gettinga new identity and begin to act as ifthey were living in the Viking age.Soon, some are working enthusiasti-cally in different groups of workshopactivities making silver strings andleather purses. Others are engaged intrade or cooking. They are all en-gaged in a role play focused on drama-tising the past. Of course, visiting theViking section of the museum is a vitalpart of the programme. By the end ofthe session it is difficult to leave thenew roles. Surprised, the pupils donot find it easy to return to ordinarylife - although the sun is still shining...

The educational programme is createdby using basic pedagogical methodsand means. The museum visit nodoubt gives the pupils a good expe-rience and a better understanding ofViking age living conditions by allow-ing them to be active and creativethemselves and by having a paralleldialogue with the museum educator(s).Basic elements of the Viking age livingconditions have been visualised, andthe pupils have had to discuss and findsolutions on many different matters.Without a doubt, they see and studythe exhibition quite differently afterhaving played “Vikings”... By playingthe role of a fictive story at themuseum, a fruitful experience comple-ments work at school. The museumvisit has given the pupils an extraordi-nary experience and new motivationto continue to explore the Vikings backin school. Individual experiences andnew information gained through first-hand experience becomes a new field of knowledge or even understand-ing.

That same morning students visit TheViking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Theytake part in a day's programme com-bining workshop activities on landrelated to the maritime life and work

of the Vikings with sailing “Vikingships” on Roskilde fjord to get first-hand experience and a closer under-standing of the Viking ships. In theHistorical-Archaeological ResearchCentre in Lejre, a Viking market-placeis being reconstructed to enable pupilsand students to act in an authenticenvironment on day-visits or weekprogrammes. Without doubt, theVikings are still playing an importantrole in Denmark today.

The above examples of programmeson the Vikings are not imaginary sto-ries or unique examples of educationalsuccesses. Similar activities take placeat many different museums and institutions on that same morning. Since the beginning of the 1970s,Skoletjenesten (The Education Centre)has created educational activities inclose co-operation with museums andcultural institutions in the Copenhagenarea. It was established by the educa-tional and cultural authorities inCopenhagen and the surroundingcounties (amter). The basic financingof it is granted by the counties. Mostof the budget is dedicated to wages -primarily to engage our staff ofmuseum educators. A certain amountis dedicated to developing and run-ning the activities at the museums andinstitutions involved, and some is spenton common facilities (e.g. graphicdepartment) and administrative costs.But essential to the spirit of co-operation in Skoletjenesten, therunning of the educational services isbasically paid by the museums andinstitutions. Income from fees onactivities, books, outside funding ofprojects and short term activities arealso essential elements of the financing.

The educational staff working at theindividual museums and institutions isresponsible for the development andrunning of educational services, train-ing and supervision of educators,production of printed education andinformation material, administrativematters (e.g. booking), etc. The muse-ums and institutions providing educa-tion services in close co-operation withSkoletjenesten represent differentcategories and fields: natural historyis represented by The CopenhagenZoo, The Zoological Museum andDenmark's Aquarium, cultural historyby The National Museum, The VikingShip Museum, The Historical-Archaeological Research Centre inLejre, The National Historical Museumat Frederikborg Castle, and Denmark'sTechnical Museum, and art byLouisiana - Museum of Modern Art,J.F. Willumsen´s Museum, ARKEN -

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Museum of Modern Art, together withThe National Historical Museum atFrederiksborg Castle. Furthermore,Skoletjenesten co-operates on a pro-ject basis with many other museums,cultural institutions, and cultural pro-jects (exhibitions, etc.) on educationalactivities. Co-operating with profes-sional theatres has become a growingpart of the work in the last few years. One of the advantages of Skoletjenestenis that it benefits from the close collab-oration and exchange of experiencesof the educational staff working withinquite different fields. To enable this,meetings are arranged with presenta-tion and discussion of educational acti-vities, and study tours (even abroad)are organised and joint (interdiscipli-nary) projects are developed. The workof Skoletjenesten is co-ordinated via ourcommon educational and administra-tive base in Copenhagen. Our graphicdepartment is situated here, anotheradvantage for our work.

Each year more than 300,000 pupilsand students visit the museums andcultural institutions involved. About100,000 of them take active part in theeducational programmes offered bySkoletjenesten. The programmes varyin form, content and duration. Duringthe last 20 years new methods andtechniques have been developed.Mainly by adapting well-known peda-gogical principles (methods andmeans) to museum education. Butalso by developing new methods paral-lel to the development in education inschools at different age levels.

All our programmes are based on thesame principle: pupils and studentstake an active part in the programmeswhich are usually based on concreteexperiences and activities. Through a dialogue with the accompanyingmuseum educator, they gain furtherknowledge and understanding of thetopic of the visit.

Over the last few decades, museumeducation in Denmark has beenstrengthened and so has Skoletjenes-ten. However, reaching the presentlevel of acceptance and support is notthe final aim. In fact, we have onlyreached a platform for further con-solidation of our educational activities,a platform from which we can fightnew challenges and cope with old chal-lenges not yet overcome...Within the last year, and as a logicalconsequence, we have discussed a planof “Perspectives towards year 2000”. Itdeals first of all with organisationaland financial frames for the future development of Skoletjenesten. Evalua-

tion of “old” services and premises forestablishing new activities are in focus.To make sure that the right prioritiesand directions are decided upon, essential elements and developmentsoutside our institution have to be takeninto account. The following challengesare those Skoletjenesten has to face inreality. They are key issues for thefurther professionalisation and devel-opment of our profession.

Fighting a paradox

Despite the fact that educational pro-grammes in museums have increasedin number and quality, the recognitionof the effect and value of the hard andenthusiastic work done by museumeducators is only recognised by a ‘lim-ited’ group of people. To generalise,the paradox is that the high level ofeducational activities is not sufficientlyvisible to the public, or in public opin-ion. Probably because education hasnot got the same “high” status theatre,music, cinema or literature have... So,we must not only do good work to beaccepted by our colleagues in educa-tion but to gain general recognitionfrom the public.

Live parts of children's and young people’s culture

Cultural activities for children andyoung people have rapidly grown inrecent years. Competition for visitorsis increasing not only within museumand cultural institutions and commer-cial enterprises but also from centresbasically devoted to fun and entertain-

ment. It is our task as museum educa-tors to help our young visitors to learnto be users and creators of culture.We have to involve children and youngpeople in creating activities far morethan we are used to doing.

Expectations for further developmentof museums

To fight for further development inmuseum education means fighting fora further change in attitudes regard-ing museums in general. Museumscan no longer be considered dusty andboring. Many have become aware oftheir role of public service. Museumshave thus become a vital part of today'ssociety. They should nevertheless befar more open to the public - moreopen to “dialogue”. They are impor-tant resources, from an educationalpoint of view. Further access to theseresources through, e.g. new informa-tion technology might not just be atool for providing information. It mightalso be a tool for a dialogue betweenmuseum education services andschools, regardless of geographic dis-tances.

Courage to change old deeds and habits

Courage, perseverance and patience isstill needed for advocating the needsof the education system within themuseums to achieve optimal results.Museum educators must be ready andable to face the changes in acts andcurricula. As new educational methodsare used, museums are being askedfor a variety of visits. Evaluation, revi-

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sion and development of the offers areessential for the survival of our func-tion. We must have the courage toabandon old materials and program-mes, be aware of new educationalmethods and changes in education soas not to stagnate or be consideredold-fashioned or out-of-date. Why notask the children's opinion? Why notallow them to take some responsibi-lity in their programmes? Let us notforget either the education of youngpeople and even adults, which has tobe given higher priority.

The challenges sketched above statehow important and vital museumeducation is. However, we must stillwork on becoming indispensable.

Le «Zèbre surroues», un muséeen visite*

Tickey PuleSenior Curator

National MuseumGaborone, Botswana

Summary

Through its mobile museum called the “Zebraon wheels”, the National Museum inGaborone can take the museum message tothe most remote parts of this sparsely popu-lated country. It is also another way of bridg-ing the cultural gap of the diversified nationof Botswana, and in the process, hopefullyeducating the community to appreciate andrespect each other´s cultures and traditions.

Lorsqu´en 1966, l´idée s’est fit jourd´établir un musée au Botswana, peud´habitants comprenaient le sens dumot «musée», voire quelle en était lavaleur. Le pays était encore jeune etpauvre. Aussi, les quelques personnes,qui avaient déjà visité un musée, vrai-semblablement dans un pays voisin,ont soutenu cette initiative avec cœuret enthousiasme.

Les fondateurs de ce musée nationalont été déterminés dès le début à créerun musée et une galerie d´art actifs,dont l´objectif principal était l´étudedu peuple botswanais et de ses rela-tions avec l´environnemt. Conscientsdes distances immenses séparant la capitale Gaborone de la plupart des petits villages et de leurshabitants, ils se sont donc efforcés

d´élaborer leurs programmes enconséquence.

C´est ainsi qu’est né notre dynamiqueservice hors-les-murs, constitué au-jourd´hui d´un musée mobile, d´unepublication trimestrielle «La Voix duZèbre» et d´un programme radio hebdo-madaire «La vie de notre musée». Al´origine, et en raison de sa situationgéographique, le musée n’a touchéque la ville de Gaborone. Au fur et àmesure de son extension, il a étenduses tentacules dans un rayon de 80 km.Le personnel du musée a donné desconférences dans les écoles des environs, et celles-ci sont par la suitevenues visiter le musée. L´éducation atrès vite occupé une place prépondé-rante dans notre musée.

Au fil des ans il est devenu évidentqu´il nous fallait toucher une plusgrande partie de la population du pays.Le musée ne disposait guère demoyens ni de personnel suffisants pourétablir des dépendances dans les diffé-rentes régions. Alors pourquoi pas unmusée mobile? L´UNICEF avait mis à la disposition du Ministère del´Education des fonds pour le dévelop-pement de programmes éducatifs.Comme le Ministère n´avait pas deprojet précis, il s’est tourné vers lemusée. C´est ainsi que le service dumusée mobile, communément appelé«le Zèbre sur roues» a vu le jour. Lesfonds de l´UNICEF ont servi à l´acqui-sition d´un véhicule, de matérielcinéma et de projection de diaposi-tives, ainsi que d´un générateur. Lemusée a préparé une série de confé-rences, et a élaboré du matériel auxi-liaire d´éducation tel que des pan-neaux didactiques, des diapositives desobjets du musée et une série de films.

A ses débuts, en 1980, le musée mobilen´en était qu´à un stade expérimental.Il se déplaçait dans un rayon de 60 km. Nous étions bien conscientsque notre service n´était pas destinéaux seules écoles des «environs». Notreobjectif était plus ambitieux : nousdevions toucher les régions les pluséloignées. C´est ce que nous sommesparvenus à réaliser par la suite.

A présent, nous commençons par con-tacter les écoles et les informons despréparatifs préalables à la visite. Notreprogramme requiert généralementtoute une journée. Pendant ce temps,les cours normaux sont suspendus : eneffet, nous commencons à 8 h. pour terminer à 21h30! Les enfants, diviséspar âge, sont confrontés à de nouvellesmatières et doivent prendre des notes.Ils ont l´occasion de voir des films etdes diapositives, de toucher, de sentiret d´utiliser différents objets ethnogra-phiques traditionnels provenant degroupes ethniques du Botswana. Lacommunauté villageoise tout entièreparticipe ensuite à l´événement au coursde danses ou pendant l´heure du conte.

En fin de journée, tout le village assisteà la projection de films sur le mur exté-rieur de l´école. Cette apothéose est trèspopulaire, et il nous est arrivé de voir4.000 personnes assister au spectacle.Avant le début de la projection et pen-dant l´entracte, nous expliquons à lapopulation par l´intermédiaire de haut-parleurs, ce que sont notre musée etses activités, sa valeur pour le pays etl´importance de préserver tout ce quireste de notre culture en voie de dispa-rition. Le lendemain toute notre équipeprend la route pour la prochaine étapeafin de recommencer le même pro-gramme dans une autre école. Travailexcitant mais exténuant!

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Nous essayons ainsi de rassembler toutle pays sous la coupe du musée. Grâceau musée mobile nous pouvons con-duire le musée vers les régions lesplus délaissées de ce pays si peupeuplé. C´est également une autremanière de jeter un pont entre lesdifférentes entités culturelles de notrenation si diversifiée. Nous espérons dela sorte réussir à éduquer nos compa-triotes à s´apprécier et à respecter les cultures et traditions de leurs voi-sins.

* Le «Zèbre sur roues» ayant fait l´objet denombreuses publications en anglais, nous avonsjugé utile d´en publier ici une version française(traduction : N. Gesché)

Heritage Education:Building the Roadthrough Walking...Maria de Lourdes Parreiras Horta

Museologist,Director of the Imperial Museum

Petropolis, Brazil.

Résumé

Le but de l´éducation muséale est d´appren-dre au public, quel qu´il soit, à «lire le monde»,à rêver, à trouver sa place dans la sociétéafin de pouvoir appréhender les collectionsdes musées de manière enrichissante. On nepeut considérer les musées comme de sim-ples banques de données, où il suffiraitd´appuyer sur un bouton «enter» pour toutdécouvrir.Sensibiliser le public à la valeur de son patri-moine est l'une des tâches essentielles d´unmusée, et l´auteur explique ici le chemin par-couru depuis sa participation à un séminairesur le patrimoine en Grande Bretagne,jusqu'à son application au Brésil : faire décou-vrir aux habitants d´un petit village, la valeurde leur passé et de leur héritage culturel,naturel et social.

The road of museum and heritage education in Brazil is being pavedthrough the many steps and efforts bydifferent people and professionals whobelieve in the potentialities and thetransforming power of this “medium”,in its effective results in changingreality, in the daily life and minds ofindividuals and communities.

The task of museum education hasbeen seen for many years as a matter

of “transmitting information” in as cor-rect a way as possible to students andteachers, in as far as they themselveswould be able to control and pay atten-tion to what we would say about whatthey would be able to “see”. Whatshould be done with all this informa-tion, after the visit or at school? Thiswas neither our responsibility, norshould we have worried about it.People were not prepared to under-stand the “importance” of our collec-tions... lack of background, lack of“education”. Our “mission” was thusseen as a means of “fulfilling” thesevoids, in a sort of “banking education”,in the words of Paulo Freire in his“Pedagogy of the Oppressed”.

More recently on my way along themuseum education road in Brazil, one“sign-post” deserves mentioning. Thiswas my encounter with A. Heath, andthe experiences in Heritage Educationin England during a seminar held inExeter in 1982. Much of this expe-rience has been shared with othercolleagues through a similar seminarheld in Petropolis, in 1983, with thehelp of A. Heath and P. Redsell, when a first proposal of a specificmethodology for museums and heritage education was formulated inour country. What findings have wemade since then? How many mileshave we walked from then on, in acountry as wide as a continent, as rich in natural resources as it is insocial inequalities and cultural plural-ities?

Travel notes on the Museum site

When trying to summarize a few ofmy own “findings” and explorations inthe museum field, the first thing to benoted - and this is not a “discovery ofthe wheel” - is how quickly and howfar museums have changed, notthrough their own will but by beingdriven by the increasingly fasterwheels of the world. Museology andmuseum institutions have openedthemselves up to this world, remodel-ling their own visions about them-selves, enlarging their concepts andre-structuring their ways of dealingwith new social profiles and demands,with new governmental policies andthe economic and technological trendsof this turn of the century.

The second point is the fact thatmuseums, as social institutions, can-not merely be seen as great data-banks,holding a wealth of pre-fabricatedknowledge ready to be passed on tocommon mortals through specific tech-nologies, scientific methods and

sophisticated hardware and software,as brilliant as these may seem. Willthe existential and essential questionsof the life and role of museums besolved as soon as they enter the INFO-WAY Formula? “You press ENTER, wedo the rest”, paraphrasing Kodak'sportable camera advertising...

Rather than “channels”, I would pre-fer to envision our institutions as“sites”, to use the up-to-date “jargon”,in the world wide web of cultural sys-tems and equipment. A site, a whole“environment” of a very specificnature, which can be used and enjoyedby people in the most different ways,as a “cultural tool”, or rather a “cul-tural machine”, for the benefit of all,and mainly for community develop-ment.

The Museum's raw material

Objects, monuments and museums donot speak for themselves, they speakfor us, instead of us, expressing in theirsilent language concepts, feelings andideas we would like to say ourselves,but have no words. Because, if wordswere sufficient, books would do better.What we in fact have in the museumcan be compared with Diderot's meta-phor for the Encyclopedia: a “machinefor making stockings”. A whole pro-cess, into which you feed some “rawmaterial”, with “stockings” emergingat the end. What we feed into our muse-ums at the beginning of the process isthe “raw material” of culture, objects,documents, specimens, tools, stones,textiles, papers, and at the end whatemerges are the “signs of culture”,ready to be used in different ways, fordifferent ends.

The little stones collected along theway of my experiences and experi-mentation lead me to believe that theuniqueness and richness of the educa-tional work in this field was some-thing very different from the meretransmission of information andknowledge about the objects andcollections, about data and historicalor scientific facts. It was much morean open space, or “site” of discoveryon how the cultural machine works,on how complex cultural processesare, on how objects are the evidenceof these processes, and how we canuse the “museum machine” to betterunderstand it all.

Museum education should thus not bea “teaching” process, but a “learning”process, an apprenticeship and expe-riment on how the “stockings”, the“signs of culture” are produced, and

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how they can be used to warm up our“feet” and minds. Museum educationcan only be a “communication pro-cess” taking place through the“museum medium”, and through the“mediating role” of museum profes-sionals, museologists, curators, conser-vators, designers, educators... Ourtask would then be to help peoplelearn how to use the “museummachine”, so that they could “read theworld”, without the need of words. Atrue “cultural literacy” process, thatwould allow people to hold in theirown hands the “power” and all the“knowledge” we have in ours, and touse them for their own benefit andinterest.

First Problem: Form or Content?

Our first exploration of these ideas onmuseum and heritage education wastoo concerned with trying to find aproper “methodology” for our prac-tice. The basic steps mirrored theEnglish experience mentioned above:1) observation of the “raw material”,in order to apprehend it throughperception skills, with the aim of 'iden-tifying' the 'object' of study; 2) regis-tration of these perceptions throughdifferent expressive skills, textualdescription, drawing, photographing,modelling, etc., making possible the“recording” of the perceived thing inconscious memory; 3) extrapolationof the observation and registration pro-cesses, in order to “give meaning” tothe object of study, through compar-ison, setting in context, deduction, infe-rence, using all sorts of pedagogicalresources, such as research, discus-sions, questioning and re-creation,dramatisation and imagination... Themethod seemed easy to apply, provedeffective and enticing, and lead usmiles away from the old patterns ofboring 'classes' in galleries, or 'extraclass' activities. We have worked withteachers, held workshops, given themthe 'keys' for finding their own waythroughout the Museum.

No problem with the method, no prob-lem with the “content”... at myMuseum, the Imperial Museum in thehills near Rio; the “content” had al-ready been “given”, in a “classical”manner. But working with “lace stoc-kings”, with gloves and fans, Crownjewels and precious wood, romanticpaintings and golden carriages,seemed too good to be true, just amatter of care and wonder... The realproblem came when there were no“stockings” to be valued, no preciouswood nor glittering marbles... whenyou had nothing but potato fields...

Experimentation out-site: how much isa raw potato worth?

The true challenge to all my “stock-ings theory” in my museum educationadventure came one day in 1989 whenI was invited to go to a small town inthe hills, in the southwest region ofBrazil. A village of 2,000 souls, a lit-tle spot in terms of this country, wherethe National Heritage Institute hadstarted to inventory the architecturalremains of Italian immigration in thisregion. In fact, there were no monu-ments but simple stone churches, anold nuns' school, on the top of a chainof mountains covered with luxuriantnative forests. Down the valleys, onlypotato fields, and a population gettingolder and older, the youngsters escap-ing to town, looking for a betterperspective in life. The only econom-ic activity was potato planting, in veryprimitive conditions, and a smallproduction of wooden frames for hous-ing construction. The reality I wasconfronted with there can only bedescribed as “social amnesia” syn-drome, as people did not want to talkabout their past, did not want toremember what they took to be a his-tory of failure. What can one do with“raw potatoes” and a lack of hope?The initiative and idealism of one manand his wife, the local Secretary ofCulture Jose Itaqui, and AngelicaVillagran, pushed ahead with a wholeprogram on ways of recovering peo-ple's sense of identity and of self-esteem, development in which I hadthe chance to participate. A first work-shop on heritage education was heldat that time, with teachers as the “key”

persons for reaching children, theirparents and grandparents. The meth-odology was the same as the one wehad been working with at the museum.What about “content”, when therewere no museums, no objects, no docu-ments to look at? The only thing todo was to look at the roots they hadplanted throughout their history ofsettlement in the area. Starting withthe potatoes - how did they plant them,where, with what tools, since when,why? And continuing with their cul-tural roots, from their ancestors, theirVenetian dialect, their prayers andtheir chants, to the way they made“polenta”, the way they celebratedtheir feasts, marriages and births.Teachers started to understand howmuch they knew about themselves andtheir children, being part of the samehistory. The first “objects of study”were their own houses, and their “con-tents”. They started asking the chil-dren to ask their parents and grand-parents about their memories, to bringto school what they could find. At theend of the first semester, an exhibitionwas put on with all the things foundin the houses and fields. Grandparentsand parents came to explain how thesethings worked, to recall stories fromthe old photographs they had kept...This experience has been transformedinto a permanent program of heritageeducation developed by teachers ineach school, and every semester atheme is chosen as the center of study:first, the house, then the working tools,the family documents, the means oftransportation, the culinary traditions,the fauna, and the local flora.Thematic exhibitions circulate from

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school to school at the end of eachcycle of studies. After 4 years of regu-lar and systematic programs, the pro-ject is installed in 9 surrounding dis-tricts (municipalities), and heritageeducation is the backbone for all thedisciplines of the formal first-gradecurricula. Language, history, geogra-phy, mathematics, social studies, allthe subjects are studied with the toolsof heritage education, or of what Iwould prefer to call “field museology”,or “popular museology”, a work, not atheory, a practice, not a philosophy,which, by using the “raw material” oflocal culture and reality, providespeople with “stockings” that fit every-one's feet. Inside or outside muse-ums, I believe this can be an exampleof how much our work may help in“empowering” people, in the words ofPaulo Freire, so that they may buildtheir own road with their own toolsand knowledge. Heritage and museumeducation is a “medium” throughwhich people can learn how to “readtheir own world”, how to write theirown dreams, how to value themselvesand be proud of it.

Quelques considérations surl éducation dans lesmusées de scienceset techniques auMexique

Yani Herreman,Architecte

Membre du Conseil exécutif de l´ICOM

Summary

In Latin America, science and technologymuseums are rare. The “Universum” orScience and Technology Museum whichopened in Mexico City only four years ago,can be considered as a pioneer: educationand systematic evaluation and research havebeen its main aims from the very beginning.The results have so far proved very succes-sful.

En Amérique latine, ces dix dernièresannées se sont caractérisées enmatière économique par une pénétra-tion technologique exagérée et undéveloppement néo-libéral, qui se sontmaintes fois avérés inadéquats.

Il est plus facile de reconnaîtreaujourd´hui la nécessité de créer unsystème scientifique, en accord avecles demandes de la région, qui essaiede faire face avec succès aux défisd´une compétence globale. Il faut donccompter avec une science au servicede la connaissance, suffisamment fortepour servir également au développe-ment économique et social.

La plupart des organismes gouverne-mentaux, responsables des program-mes scientifiques et technologiques,favorisent la divulgation des connais-sances comme moyen de renforcerleur développement. Ils essaient demettre l´éducation scientifique et tech-nologique à la portée de tous, et ontpour ce faire recours à différents moyens, parmi lesquels interviennentles musées. Ils visent ainsi à une prise de conscience du rôle de lascience et de la technologie dans notre vie quotidienne, en ville ou à lacampagne. On assiste ainsi, petit àpetit, à la reconnaissance sociale etéducative de ces domaines jusque-làminimisés.

D´un point de vue idéologique, lesdésastres, dûs à la surexploitation irra-tionnelle et à la mise en place de tech-nologies erronnées, ont désormaisengendré des programmes de prise deconscience de la dégradation du patri-moine naturel. Des agences internatio-nales comme le World ResourcesInstitute (WRI), l´Union Internationalepour la Conservation de la Nature(UICN), et le Programme des NationsUnies pour le Milieu (PNUMA) ont éla-boré d´ambitieux programmes deconservation du milieu, soulignantentre autres l´importance de la biodi-versité et la nécessité d´accroître laconnaissance et l´estime des valeurs.Les musées ont commencé à jouer unrôle de première importance dans cecontexte.

D´autre part, et compte tenu des précé-dentes considérations, il ne faut pasoublier la situation difficile danslaquelle se trouve l´éducation enAmérique latine. Force est de constaterque les problèmes relevés en 1986comme prioritaires - croissance démo-graphique, insuffisance de l´éducationprimaire, désertion et manque depréparation des professeurs1 - n´ontguère changé en 1996. Les jeuneslatino-américains responsables de laproduction, tant scientifique et techno-logique que politique et sociale, restentinsuffisamment préparés. Quant àl´éventuelle relation du système sco-laire avec les musées, elle est virtuel-lement inexistante. Les musées

d´Amérique latine, novateurs enmatière d´éducation sociale et de prisede conscience du patrimoine (voir lesnombreux musées communautaires, enColombie, au Brésil et au Mexique), sesont jusqu´à présent tenus à l´écart desdomaines scientifiques et techniques.Ainsi, au Pérou, ce patrimoine n'a étéreconnu qu´en 1994, lors de la créationdu musée de l´Électricité. En dehorsdes musées traditionnels d´histoirenaturelle, les musées de sciences ettechniques étaient loin d´être ce qu´ilssont devenus. Le Mexique a joué unrôle pionnier dans ce sens avec le muséede l´électricité de la Commission natio-nale de l´électricité (1970) et le Centreculturel Alfa (1980).

Le but de cet article est d´examiner lerôle éducatif joué en Amérique latinepar ces nouveaux musées de scienceset techniques, et leur relation avec lessystèmes éducatifs scolaires, à partird´un exemple concret : le musée desSciences «Universum» de la ville deMexico.

Signalons en premier lieu, que les pro-grammes scolaires des écoles primai-res sont imparfaits tant dans leur con-cept que dans leur contenu. Ceci estparticulièrement frappant dans lesmatières scientifiques et techniquespour lesquelles les informations don-nées sont désuètes, et n´établissentaucune relation2 entre sciences etphilosophie par exemple, ou scienceset histoire. Il n'est pas non plus ques-tion d´interdisciplinarité. D´autre part,les programmes du primaire sont malstructurés et manquent de cohérence3.L´apparition récente des musées desciences et techniques est certaine-ment liée de près ou de loin à ceslacunes du système scolaire, et audésir de trouver des solutions paral-lèles permettant d'y pallier, afin dedonner à la population les moyens demieux comprendre et utiliser ces disci-plines.

Le développement scientifique a per-mis un certain nivellement social, voireune hausse du niveau de vie. Lesapports de la science dans le domainede l´industrie et de l´agriculture peu-vent s´étendre au point de faire partieintégrante de notre vie quotidienne etde notre travail. Aussi, la recherche,et les produits de cette recherche, doivent être mis à la portée de tous,hommes de sciences et décideurs, mais aussi de l´usager, c´est-à-dire de la communauté. Celle-ci, aussi hétérogène soit-elle, doit pouvoir pro-fiter de cette information, la com-prendre, l´intégrer dans ses propreschamps de référence, et apprendre à

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l´utiliser pour ses propres prises dedécision.

C´est ainsi que le musée des Sciences«Universum» est né dans la ville de Mexico sous le patronage del´Université nationale autonome deMexico, dont la vocation a été dès l´ori-gine éducative.

Ses objectifs sont :1. Produire une culture «scienti-fique» pour l'ensemble de la popu-lation.2. Susciter un intérêt pour laconnaissance et la jouissance dessciences et techniques.3. Susciter les vocations.4. Eduquer la population dans ledomaines des sciences et techni-ques.5. Aider les écoles.6. Promouvoir les notions de scien-ces et techniques comme apparte-nant à la culture et au patrimoined´un peuple.7. Faire participer le public au pro-cessus d´assimilation et d´utilisa-tion des sciences et de leurs appli-cations technologiques.8. Etre l´interlocuteur entre l´uni-versité et la population.9. Offrir un moyen alternatif pourl´apprentissage et la compréhen-sion des sciences et techniques.10. Offrir une solution à l´utilisa-tion du temps libre et des loisirs.11. Stimuler le désir des étudiantset des anciens élèves de l´univer-sité de participer aux programmeséducatifs du musée.12. Entreprendre une recherchesystématique dans les domaines de la communication éducative,l´enseignement non formel et leurévaluation.

L´importance de ce dernier pointdemande quelques approfondisse-ments : signalons que la recherchesystématique n´est guère pratiquéedans les musées d´Amérique latine, nidans la plupart d´autres pays, qu'ilssoient ou non développés. De là l´insis-tance, dès l´ouverture du musée, surce point méthodologique important.

La recherche s´effectue à deux niveaux,et touche ainsi tous les secteurs. Ungroupe de travail, chargé de la recher-che en matière d´éducation non for-melle, étudie les attitudes et l´impactcognitif dans les groupes de l´ensei-gnement primaire et secondaire. Ainsil´analyse des idées acquises en dehorsde l´enseignement peut expliquer l´ori-gine des barrières, qui empêchent lacompréhension de la science contem-poraine. Ces idées peuvent être reliées

afin de former des modèles plus oumoins structurés, qui se construisent àpartir de l´expérience avec des milieuxnaturel et sociaux4.

Par ailleurs, un groupe travaille à tempsplein à l´évaluation des expositions, étu-die le comportement du public pendantla visite, et analyse l´impact produit. Trois lignes de travail ont été déga-gées:

1. Une étude quantitative analysele caractère des objets, les attitudesenvers les systèmes interactifs, etl´impact affectif du visiteur.2. Une étude qualitative déterminel´impact produit par le musée surle public, et observe - par le biaisde l'expérience des visiteurs - dansquelle mesure ses objectifs ont étéatteints. Les stratégies de transmis-sion, la politique scientifique, lecontenu scientifique des salles etl´expérience muséographique dupublic sont ici évalués.3. Enfin, l'étude analytique inter-prète les résultats d´un point de vuesocial, c´est-à-dire ethnologique.

D´après Screven, ces évaluations sontformatives, car elles se font dans lesexpositions temporaires. L'organisationgénérale peut alors être modifiée enfonction des résultats. L´interprétationanthropologique des résultats présenteun autre intérêt : peu de centres ont dessystèmes d´évaluation qui dépassent lasimple addition statistique des visiteurs2.A l´Universum, la politique d´évaluationintégrale inclut un suivi tant dans lesexpositions temporaires et perma-nentes, que dans les ateliers, départe-ments ou autres activités du musée.

Cette évaluation comprend également:1. L´actualisation constante en fonc-tion des désirs des visiteurs, afind’éviter que les expositions ne per-dent leur attrait.2. L´actualisation du contenu enfonction du caractère scientifiquedu musée, qui rend nécessaire lamise à jour de l´information et desa présentation.3. L´impact du public pendant etaprès la visite.4. L´impact à long terme, qui peutsusciter une vocation ou permettrela restructuration des cours desciences et des activités interdisci-plinaires.

Ouvert au public il y a seulement quatre ans, l'Universum est un vérita-ble succès : il reçoit de trois à huitmille visiteurs par jour. Il peut certesêtre amélioré, et n´est pas une œuvreachevée, cependant je suis convaincueque son succès relève principalement

des différents éléments émotionnels, àsavoir les compromis et l´enthou-siasme de son personnel académique,investi dans une recherche systémati-que.

1 Yani Herreman, «Museos y Educación en AméricaLatina y Caribe», Revista Latinoamericana deEstudios Educativos, México D. F. 1987.2 Sara Gaspar, Cecilia López, «Los centros deciencia ¿una alternativa para la divulgación cinetifica?», La Diversidad en la Divulgación dela Ciencia, Memorias del II Congreso para laDivulgación de la Ciencia y la Técnica, Xalapa,Veracruz 1992.3 Felipe Tirado Segura, «Universum : Museo delas ciencias. ¿Comprender-aprender-divertir?»,La Divulgación Hoy, Memorias del III CongresoNacional de Divulgación de la Ciencia, Queretaro1993.4 Elaine Reynoso, Enriqué Fleiro, «ModelosIntuitivos sobre conceptos básicos de la astro-nomía y sus aplicaciones en la divulgación de laastronomia», La Diversidad en la Divulgación dela Ciencia, Memorias del II Congreso para laDivulgación de la Ciencia y la Técnica, Xalapa,Veracruz 1992.

Museums andEducating forCultural Tolerance

Monica LeahyEducation Officer

Migration MuseumAdelaide, South Australia

Résumé

Comment aborder l´éducation muséale dans une société multiculturelle commel´Australie? Le musée de l´émigration dans lesud du pays a tenté d´apporter une solutionà cette question en créant des programmeséducatifs en collaboration avec l´Institutnational de culture aborigène et l´école deKaurna Plains. Lors de leur visite au musée,les enfants sont placés dans le contexte del´émigrant et découvrent ainsi l´impact del´immigration sur les peuples aborigènesd'Australie méridionale. Ils apprennent aussi àrespecter et à mieux tolérer les autres cul-tures.

As Australia has moved from assimi-lation through integration to multicul-turalism as the predominant socialpolicy, a new vision has had to bedeveloped for education, and as aresult, for museums. South Australia,which opened Australia's first urbanAboriginal school in 1986 and is thesite of the National Aboriginal CulturalInstitute (Tandanya) and the onlyMigration Museum in the country, hasbeen at the forefront of these develop-

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ments and bears close examination interms of accommodating and promo-ting successful cultural pluralism.

Considering that Aboriginal people hadfew legal and human rights until thereferendum of 1967, the educationaloutcomes for most Aboriginal studentshad often been spectacularly unsuc-cessful. The five year process for set-ting up Kaurna Plains School recognisedthis and now runs an education pro-gramme that is inclusive of Aboriginalchildren's learning styles - includingbehaviour management. Students calltheir teachers by their first name or bythe honorific Aunty or Uncle, and theclassrooms operate very much on afamily basis. What this valuing of cul-ture has meant in real terms is pridein ethnicity and a higher average literacy level than the other children oftheir age from local schools.

Similarly, South Australia has main-tained strong, intensive English assecond language programmes inschools and the community. Childrenhave the option of a full-time new arri-vals programme for their first year asresidents and later support in main-stream classes in schools; the amountdepending on a combination of lengthof residency and need and often includ-ing second generation children ofimmigrant parents.

This cultural explosion in educationand throughout the community hashuge implications for museums andmuseum education in South Australia.At the Migration Museum we havechosen to follow several paths whilemaking sure all serve one aim - usingthe past to teach cultural toleranceand pride in the now.

For instance, all student visitors aretaught that everyone has a culture - beit ethnic, socio-economic or geogra-phic in origin, which is important consi-dering most Australians of British back-ground seem to think that culture issomething that “ethnics” have. On theother hand, many recent immigrants donot recognise any Australian culture -perhaps because it is so shrouded inthe stereotypes of beer swilling, beachgoing and BBQ eating! The reality isthat Australia does have a culture, asmost English visitors would be able totell you, but it is an umbrella culture,probably influenced by our climate andisolation, but quite identifiable. Thedifference is that alongside that cultureare the countless cultures of the mil-lions of immigrants who have madeAustralia home mostly since the end ofWorld War Two.

Secondly, the teaching style in themuseum (students have an hour-longfully taught programme) borrowsheavily from that used at Kaurna PlainsSchool. Students are full participantsin their learning and they are encour-aged to value their own background,using their life experiences (howevershort) to place the museum's displaysin a relevant context which is far morelikely to stay with them. Several pro-grammes place the child within themigration and settlement experience;dressing in period costume, handlingtools and so on. For instance, in oneprogramme about early settlement achild is given a nineteenth century beanslicer and a discussion ensues aboutwhich member of the family might haveused it when it was new, what applianceit has been replaced by (the food pro-cessor), who uses the modern equiva-lent in their home and who works harder. This serves the purpose ofmaking the programme relevant to the child, thus making it a more lasting experience. Of course it can be considerably more difficult to equalthe experience of a Post World WarTwo displaced person or a Vietnameserefugee of the early 1980s, but we can and do put students through theselection procedures for entry toAustralia at different times in our history.

As well as looking at immigration andsettlement history, the MigrationMuseum, in collaboration withTandanya National Aboriginal CultureInstitute, the Botanical Gardens(Aboriginal plant use trail) and theSouth Australian Museum's AboriginalGallery, teaches about the impact ofimmigration and settlement on theAboriginal peoples of South Australia.

The latest study puts the number ofAboriginal groups occupying what isnow South Australia at fifty-five in pre-invasion times (the word “tribe” is notused as it denotes a pyramidal struc-ture with a chief, whereas Aboriginalgroups use a council of elders for deci-sion making). Through deliberateaction on the part of settlers andsuccessive governments, these groupswere dispossessed of their lands andsent to missions at the whim of bureau-crats and church leaders. Childrenwere forcibly taken from their naturalparents and given to white families toraise, or left in “orphanages” wherethey faced a bleak future.

By putting children metaphorically intothe position of an Aboriginal groupwhose land is progressively taken (theyare given a jigsaw puzzle to represent

land and the pieces are gradually confis-cated), and whose numbers are deci-mated by introduced diseases, wife-stealing and child welfare policies, theyget a real feel for the issues and weoften find that by about ten minutesinto the exercise the children are sit-ting on “their land” to prevent the educa-tion staff from being able to take it.

Of course, one of the real issues in thissort of education programme is thatwhile you are building pride in herit-age and achievements of one culturalgroup, you must also cater for thegroup who might be depicted as theoppressor, preventing them from car-rying the guilt of generations past.When dealing with the controversythat can arise from discussions of cul-ture, beliefs, rights and cultural impe-rialism there is the potential for visi-tors to feel excluded, singled out forblame, embarrassed because of feel-ing different from the majority and soon. There is no easy answer to thisproblem and the real challenge formuseums, and indeed schools, in cul-tural plural countries such as Australia(and the United Kingdom) is to turnthis to the advantage of the institution.

As a teacher, I maintained that educa-tion by worksheet was not doing thestudent any favours and was in factlimiting the extent of their learning.The success of the education pro-gramme at Kaurna Plains School wasan inspiration to the staff at theMigration Museum in this regard.While worksheets have their place inthe institution that has no paid staff,creating a climate that encouragesdifference, values the rights of all totheir opinions and promotes tolerance,almost requires a face-to-face setting.To this end, attendant staff at theMigration Museum have taken on therole of teachers within the Museumand have full input into potential pro-grammes and how to use exhibits aswell undertake four half-day trainingsessions per year in such issues asnew curriculum and student behaviourmanagement strategies. One realproblem has been the growth of a neo-Nazi group in Adelaide and withoutthe sensitive face-to-face contact thatencourages the valuing of difference,these attitudes might go unchallenged.

Worksheets might be banned, but theMigration Museum does provideeducation resources to visitingteachers in the form of preparatoryactivities and follow-up activitieswhich are developed within thenational curriculum framework, andhas just ventured into the provision of

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resources specifically about culturaltolerance and racism. Althoughteachers/schools are usually asked topay for the booklet on a cost recoverybasis, it is provided free of charge toteachers whose classes have indicatedduring their visit that they are in great-est need of its advice.

Multiculturalism is a reality inAustralia and we have among theworld's strictest anti-discriminationlaws to support it. It is therefore essen-tial for educators of all types (includ-ing museum planners) to recognisetheir power and their responsibility increating both cultural tolerance andharmony. The museum must designexhibits with this in mind, whilelooking for the most effective way ofusing the standing resource of themuseum to complement and extendthe curriculum as well find a method-ology that is inclusive of all visitors.

A huge task, but not insurmountable.At the Migration Museum, we like toleave students with one thought - onethat was given to me by one of my for-mer students, a Cambodian refugee.The school was very tense racially andthis boy stood in front of a class ofpotential hostiles and said, “when youmeet someone who is different fromyou, look first for what you might havein common. Then look at the differ-ences, respect their rights to theiropinions and enjoy the rest - especiallyif it ´s edible!”

Is it Possible toBuild a BridgeBetween Naturaland CulturalHistory Museums?

Merethe FrøylandNorwegian Museum Authority

Doris JordeUniversity of Oslo Norway

Résumé

Comment concilier musées d´histoire natu-relle et musées d´art et d´histoire afin de mieuxinformer le public sur nos valeurs culturelles,nos origines,notre évolution,en bref sur notreplace dans la société et dans l´univers?

In a recent governmental report onthe status of museums it is reportedthat “of the 530 registered museumsand collections (numbering about 800)there are only 26 museums with naturalcollections of which half are purenatural history museums. Many partsof the country lack such collections andone should aim towards more naturalhistorical offerings. The Department ofCulture recommends that natural his-tory exhibits be established in existingcultural-historical museums”.1

In order to fulfil this proposal, naturalhistory museums and cultural historicalmuseums will need to collaborate inthe planning of their exhibits. TheNorwegian Museum Authority hastaken on the responsibility of stimula-ting co-operation between natural his-tory and art/historical museums so thatthe communication of information inthe museum setting will transverse thetraditional boundaries. The aim is topresent topics and themes having bothnatural and historical perspectives. Ifthe idea is good, the practice is not thateasy. One of the main reasons of thedifficulty is crossing over culturalboundaries that have been establishedwithin the museum community.Natural history museums and art/histo-rical museums each have their own setof traditions that seem to prevent theimplementation of holistic approachesto museum work in Norway.

The English physicist C. P. Snow2 intro-duced in his writings the concept of“two cultures” which he characterisedas scientific on the one hand and lit-erary on the other. For him, there wasa basic lack of understanding andcommunication between the two dif-ferent cultures. The differences Snowexperienced in England between thetwo cultures was indeed more extremethan what we find between the twomuseum cultures in Norway today.However, a difference does exist andat times we, too, can talk about thesetwo different cultures. In Norway, thetwo cultures have their own organisa-tion (Norwegian Museums of Art andSocial History, and The Association ofNatural History Museums of Norway),further exemplifying the lack ofcommunication and co-operation.

If we take a closer look at the two dif-ferent museum cultures, we find dif-ferences in the priorities and their rela-ted problems. Art/historical museumsfind it difficult to find time for researchand give priority to collections and public communication, whereasNatural history museums are often con-nected to university and research. The

latter therefore often have problems ingiving some priority to their public exhi-bits and communication.

Within the museum environment, thedifferences between the “two cultures”also have to do with our definition ofmuseums within the context of “cul-ture”. Art and historical museumshave always been defined as “cultural”within the Department of Culture, andbecause of this concept have flourishedin Norway. It has often been theCultural sector which has supportedthese museums, defined as part of cul-tural traditions in Norway. Naturalhistory museums have not had thesame access to cultural support.Indeed, many would even affirm thatin Western societies science has beentotally neglected as part of culture inthe recent past. S. Sjøberg stated in adiscussion on the place of science inour definition of culture that: “Scienceis not considered a part of culture, andin many cases is even seen as oppositeto culture. And when one talks aboutour cultural heritage, scientific thoughtand development are often not part ofthe picture”. We can only hope thatthis situation is going to change.

Because the two different museum cul-tures do exist in Norway, it will taketime and resources to engage bothsides in developing and understandingeach other. And as we all know, timeis something we all lack in the museumenvironment. Tasks with short dead-lines are often performed first, leavinglittle time for long-term planning andco-operation. The long academictradition of cultural separation willcontinue because museums are notgiven the necessary conditions tofavour integration and change. InNorway, attempts to integrate the twocultures under the same roof have notalways been successful and one mightwonder if the effort is worthwhile andmeaningful for museums.

Why co-operation?

The desired outcome of co-operationbetween the two cultures by no meansimplies eliminating the traditions ofboth natural history and art/history.This isolation may have been respon-sible for the progress made within eachof these traditions. Yet, to bridge thegap that exists today between scienceand “culture” is a worthwhile challenge.

There are other reasons for combin-ing the two cultures in museum exhi-bitions beyond just placing them inthe same physical space. Science andsociety have developed side by side

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and cannot be separated historically.Both, hand in hand, have influencedeach other's development, and this hasto be kept in mind when presentinginformation to the public.

Science and society

At a typical folk museum there aremany artifacts that were used in farmsand homes in the past. They are dis-played with no information whatsoeveron how they were made, the materialsthey were made of, or even the liveli-hood of the population at the time, andthe influence this had on culture. Artmuseums exhibit period paintings,often with no comment on the tech-nology used, or the social conditionsthat may have led to its creation. Andarcheological exhibits which take usthrough the development of mankindgive little information on the techno-logical and scientific progress whichmade these artifacts possible.

Museums of art and history are notthe only ones to experience this cul-tural separatism. Natural historymuseums often dismiss the existenceof humans when showing plants, an-imals and rocks as if people did notexist. We are rarely introduced to theinteraction between science andsociety, leaving the visitors with theimpression that science is just a collec-tion of things that can systematicallylead to a body of facts. At a time whenwe, as members of society, are askedto take decisions in the fields ofbiotechnology, environment and biodi-versity, we rarely see these topics beingaddressed in a natural history museum.

Bernal3 emphasised that science andtechnology have been the buildingblocks for society, past and present. Itis only through a combination of the

social and natural sciences that satis-factory and progressive social controlof social activities can be assured.

The combination of historical andscientific events can provide anunderstanding of the importancescience and technology have had forthe practical and cultural developmentof society. Finally, the presentation ofhistorical events can also help us tounderstand how science and techno-logy have developed, and the choicewe have made of the use of our naturalresources for better or for worse!

S. Sjøberg4 insists on the inclusion ofscience and technology (natural his-tory) in our definition of culture: “(...)for our culture and our existence,Newton, Bohr, Darwin and Einsteinhave meant more than Picasso andGrieg. Not just for material needs, forour general standard of living, but alsofor our understanding of our existence,for the forces and conditions we areconfronted with, for the place of theplanet earth in the universe, for man'splace in the larger context - for ourunderstanding of the universe.”

A new generation of museums

Art, history, culture, science, techno-logy... these are words we have usedto describe the two cultures that existwithin an academic separation of sub-jects. Museums have chosen to followthis academic trend of separatism. Webelieve that the time has come formuseums to begin looking at the holis-tic approach to exhibits - one thatplaces an emphasis on the visitor...The time is ripe to present exhibitswith an attempt to tell their wholestory and allow the visitor to be a partof the time period, to understand thedifferent demands of the society and

the possibilities available. This canonly lead to a better understanding ofwho we are and how we came to be.

Bridging the gap between the two cul-tures will only be possible when parti-cipants of both cultures see the impor-tance of co-operation as meaningfuland useful, both for the museum andthe public. We hope the results of themuseums which have tried and suc-ceeded have proved to be beneficialand that they will be followed by others.The sum of the parts may indeed begreater than the whole!

1 “Kultur i tiden” (Culture in our time), St.meld, No. 61,1991-92.

2 C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the ScientificRevolution. London, Cambridge University Press,1959.

3 J. D. Bernal, Science in History, C.A. Watts& Co. Ltd, 1954.

4 S. Sjøberg, “Kan det bygges bru mellom deto kulturere?” (Is it possible to build a bridgebetween the two cultures?), Museumsnytt N° 4,1995.

Un nouveau muséedes enfants àHiélopolis*

Wafaa El-SaddikConseil suprême des Antiquités

Le Caire, Egypte

Summary

Although hordes of tourists invade museumgalleries worldwide, the local population inEgypt and mainly schoolchildren know littleabout their past. This is why a new Children´sMuseum was created in a suburb of Cairo in1988. There children can learn about theircultural, natural and social heritage, not onlypassively as in school but by active participa-tion in different workshops.

Les touristes défilent en masse dansles musées du monde entier. Toutefois,en Égypte, les populations locales etsurtout les enfants ont très peu accèsà leur héritage culturel. Parmi les 40%d´enfants que compte la populationégyptienne, seuls 2% visitent lesmusées. Sur 100 visiteurs, 97 sont destouristes et seulement 2,07% desenfants d´âge scolaire. Ceux qui entrentpar hasard au musée, retiennentfréquemment peu de choses de leurvisite étant donné le manque de forma-tion de la plupart des enseignants etl´absence d´informations. Les respon-sables des musées, quant à eux, ne sem-

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blent guère soucieux de rendre leurscollections accessibles aux enfants.

Les enfants ont pourtant besoin d´autrechose que de nourriture et de soins desanté pour parvenir à se situer dansnotre monde en mouvement : il leurmanque une nourriture spirituelle. Cesconstatations invitent à la réflexion :qui est responsable de la dimensionculturelle de l´éducation du jeuneenfant? Quelle méthode chosir? Lesécoles sont dépassées : 40% de la popu-lation égyptienne a moins de 15 ans,les locaux font défaut, et les mêmescours doivent être dispensés plusieursfois par jour de manière à toucherl'ensemble de la population scolaire.Lorsque les bâtiments scolaires sontaggrandis, c´est au détriment des airesde jeux et de détente. Il existe certesde nombreux centres culturels pourenfants et adolescents, mais ceux-cisont souvent peu satisfaisants en raisonde l´absence de planification et del´irrégularité des programmes offerts.Chaque centre a sa propre philoso-phie, sans aucun contact avec les auto-rités ministérielles.

Nouvel élan pour l´éducation muséale

Le musée des Enfants du Caire, fondé en1988, offre une nouvelle approche. Basésur les exemples du musée des Enfantsde New York et sur quelques ateliers demusées allemands, il a été construit àHeliopolis grâce à des fonds internatio-naux. Les salles d´exposition de ce «muséed´Histoire naturelle» - tel est son nomofficiel - s´étendent sur deux étages, etsont consacrées tant à la nature qu´à laculture égyptiennes: les différentes pério-des de l´Histoire côtoient la faune, la flore,

la géologie et la minéralogie. La majeurepartie du musée est consacrée au Nil, desa source au delta méditerranéen. Soncours est illustré par des dioramas, despanneaux didactiques, des photos et desmaquettes illustrant les chutes Victoria,la vie en Nubie, et les activités quoti-diennes d'un village égyptien typique avecses animaux et ses plantes. Une sectionillustre l´histoire de l´homme en Égypte,de l´âge de pierre aux époques coptes etislamiques, en passant par les périodespharaoniques et gréco-romaines. Parmiles autres sujets traités on peut releverle désert et ses oasis, le Sinaï et la vieaux abords de la Mer Rouge. Une salle«découverte» est également en prépara-tion. Il nous manque encore un jardinbotanique dans le parc du musée quipermettra aux enfants d´expérimenterles techniques de culture. Nous pré-voyons une section réservée à l´agri-culture, où les enfants pourront étudierle fonctionnement des anciens moulins à eau ou de la roue hydraulique, et une autre sur les techniques artisanalestraditionnelles comme la poterie et le tissage.

Nous ne souhaitons pas que les enfantssoient des spectateurs passifs, etl´essentiel de notre démarche résidedans leur participation active.

* Article paru en allemand sous le titre «Kunst& Kultur zum Anfassen», dans Dialog, Zeitschriftfür internationale Weiterbildung und Zusammen-arbeit, 1/1994, pp.30-31 (traduction : N. Gesché)

Une fleur parmi lespavés. Comment laréalisation d'unprojet éducatif a puavoir raison de tousles obstacles.

Yvonne LetouzeyLa Nature à l'école

Paris, France

Summary

Thanks to the enthusiasm of some volun-teers, nature has been introduced into numer-ous French schools for the past 20 years.Museums have helped and supported thiswork but lack of funding and the retirementof the founder of the project have sadly ledto its end.

Les «classes de nature», «classes demer», «classes de neige en montagne»qui offrent aujourd'hui la possibilitéaux jeunes citadins, frustrés de libertéet de nature, de découvrir durant quel-ques semaines un milieu nouveau,vivifiant et d'une infinie richesse,n'existaient pas encore en 1959.

À cette époque, le béton, l'asphalte, letrafic bruyant et polluant des voituresconstituaient le seul lieu de vie, terne,stérile ou angoissant, de nombreuxpetits parisiens et banlieusards. C'està leur intention que la Nature à l'École (association à but non lucratif)1

a été créée, dans le but de :- faire connaître et aimer la nature

aux enfants de la ville- stimuler leur curiosité, enrichir

leur esprit, satisfaire leur besoinde beauté, leur besoin d'expres-sion

Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous avonsdécidé de réunir une large collection(animaux naturalisés, insectes, dis-ques, photos documentaires, notices,questionnaires, etc.) afin de constituerun véritable «musée d'Histoire natu-relle adapté aux enfants âgés de 6 à12 ans», destiné à pénétrer dans lesécoles et dans les classes.

De sérieux obstacles ont très vitemenacé de freiner ou d'entraver notredéveloppement : la disposition d'unlocal, notre publicité, l'accroissementen nombre des spécimens d'histoirenaturelle, et bien entendu, l'argentmanquaient à la bonne marche d'unetelle expérience.

À ses débuts, la Nature à l'École étaithébergée à titre gratuit et temporairedans une librairie. Le manque de placeet la gêne occasionnée nous ont incitéà solliciter du Directeur du Museumnational d'histoire naturelle la dispo-sition d'un local autonome. On nous aalors proposé un ancien salon éclairépar deux grandes fenêtres, situé ausecond étage d'un bâtiment du dix-huitième siècle où avaient résidéd'illustres savants. Malgré l'escalierusé et l'absence d'eau, l'offre nous aravi. La pièce a été repeinte de cou-leurs claires et gaies, dotée d'untableau d'affichage et d'étagères. Unlaboratoire nous a prêté une grandetable carrée à tiroirs, une vaste armoiremontant jusqu'au plafond, deuxfichiers métalliques juchés sur roulet-tes, ainsi que des chaises. Le librairenous a cédé sa vieille Ronéo action-née à la manivelle. Enfin, nous avonsdisposé de places de parking indispen-sables au transport en voiture du maté-riel encombrant.

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Il n'était pas question d'accueillir danscet espace restreint des groupes d'écoliers. Seuls les enseignants devai-ent y être reçus, conseillés, stimulés,et notre matériel, par leur entremise,devait profiter à un nombre illimitéd'écoliers qui auraient, sur place, dansleur classe, le temps et les meilleuresconditions pour l'observer et en tirerparti.

Persuader les directeurs et les maîtresd'écoles de la valeur et de l'utilité denotre organisme, les convaincre desacrifier quelques heures de congépour se rendre bénévolement à notrelocal afin d'y chercher ou d'y échan-ger du matériel, paraissait à premièrevue utopique.

Nous avons fait appel aux médias : desarticles et des reportages sont parusdans des journaux et revues, des émis-sions télévisées, des interventions aucours des «Journées pédagogiques» onteu lieu, réunissant les enseignants ducycle primaire, et enfin nous avonsorganisé des visites de nos expositionsde travaux littéraires ou manuels réa-lisés par les écoliers inspirés par lanature. Les résultats ont été encoura-geants : en 1962 vingt-sept établisse-ments scolaires étaient fidélisés. Ilsétaient cinquante-et-un en 1967, etquatre-vingt-quatre en 1971.

Au cours de ses vingt années d'acti-vité, la Nature à l'École a collaboréavec plus de quatre cents établisse-ments pour enfants, scolaires pour laplupart, mais également médicalisés :hôpitaux pour enfants, institutionspour jeunes myopathes, pour jeunestrisomiques, pour handicapés moteurs,mal-voyants, etc. La plupart de cesenfants vivaient isolés, à l'écart de lanature et de la vie qu'elle incarne. Lematériel emprunté par l'un de ces éta-blissements, pour une durée variantde deux à trois semaines, avait le tempsde circuler sans précipitation d'uneclasse à une autre, d'un service à unautre, touchant ainsi de nombreuxenfants.

Dans la nature, aucun objet, aucunêtre vivant n'est insignifiant. Tout estdigne d'intérêt. Pour en convaincre lesenfants, nous leur avons proposé, parl'intermédiaire de leur maître ou maî-tresse :

- de découvrir les plantes et ani-maux sauvages vivant dans lesrues avoisinant leur école, de lesdécrire et les dessiner (mousse,araignées ...) ;

- d'étudier la façon dont le pigeonde Paris s'envole, se pose, se posi-tionne pour dormir ;

- d'observer les moineaux pari-siens, leurs attitudes, leurs mou-vements, leurs mœurs.

Et nous avons distribué chaque année,aux établissements abonnés, des grai-nes à faire germer, des bulbes et plantsde fleurs à cultiver dans la cour derécréation ou dans des jardinières.Enfin, c'est avec gratitude que nousavons accepté des dons de spécimensdestinés à enrichir notre musée deprêts : roches, échantillons de bois,coquillages, insectes, œufs et nids d'oiseaux, animaux naturalisés, etc.Certains de ces spécimens avaient étérécoltés à notre intention, d'autres provenaient de vieilles collections abandonnées.

Il n'était pas dans nos intentions delivrer tels quels ces objets défraîchiset parfois sinistres aux enseignants.Nous devions auparavant transformerle spécimen brut en un matérielattrayant, suggestif, éducatif, manipu-lable, visible sous tous les angles, pro-tégé des heurts et de la poussière,l'accompagner d'une notice compre-nant d'une part une description, rem-placée par un questionnaire stimulantl'observation, et d'autre part un com-mentaire scientifique.

Les insectes les plus familiers (que laplupart des enfants n'avaient jamaisrencontrés) étaient inclus dans desblocs de résine transparente. L'écolierpouvait ainsi, au creux de sa main,observer l'animal sous toutes ses for-mes, et même à la loupe. Les animauxnaturalisés figuraient au milieu d'undiorama suggérant leur biotope : forêt,étang, désert... visible sous tous lesangles et recouvert d'un caisson deplexiglas rigide, incassable, lavable ettransparent (qualités qui autorisèrentl'introduction des dioramas dans lesservices hospitaliers). En réalité, c'était tout un milieu naturel, un cen-tre d'intérêt (forêt, rivière, prairie oubord de mer) qui pénétrait avec le dio-rama dans les classes : boîtes d'algues,de feuilles ou d'insectes, cris et chantsdes animaux (disques), documents-photos en couleurs à afficher.

Quelques sujets d'activités proposésaux classes :

- Cherchez tous les adjectifs quiconviennent à cet animal ;

- Représentez, à la peinture, l'ani-mal vu sous tous les angles ;

- Composez une bande dessinéeracontant la vie de cet animal.

La réussite de cette expérience origi-nale et unique a dépassé toutes nosprévisions. Plusieurs dizaines de mil-

liers d'écoliers ont bénéficié de notreservice de prêts.

Le problème financier n'a jamais étérésolu.

- Les établissements scolaires ouhospitaliers versaient chaqueannée une cotisation modiquedonnant droit à l'utilisation duservice de prêts, au bulletin tri-mestriel, ainsi qu'aux distribu-tions de végétaux.

- Les subventions versées par leMinistère de l'enseignement et laVille de Paris demeurèrent déri-soires. Elles représentaient àpeine la moitié du montant descotisations.

La Nature à l'École a en partie fonc-tionné grâce au bénévolat, grâce à desaides compétentes scientifiques, tech-niques et artistiques, mais surtoutgrâce à la collaboration des ensei-gnants, collaboration active, compré-hensive, solide, efficace et toujoursamicale. Le seul obstacle qui nous aitrésisté, l'argent, a triomphé de nousaprès vingt années de lutte, mettantun point final à l'existence de la Natureà l'École.2

1 Présidée par Théodore Monod, dont lerenom, les avis et l’aide, tant morale que maté-rielle, ont encouragé et soutenu nos efforts vingtans durant.

2 Suite à mon départ en retraite, nous avonsproposé à un organisme d'État d'intégrer notreservice de prêts, alors en plein rendement, avecson matériel considérable et remarquable (plusde 250 dioramas, des centaines de spécimensbien présentés, des milliers de notices pédago-scientifiques, 6.000 photos prêtes à l'affichage,une soixantaine de disques, des livres et revues,etc. ...). En contrepartie, nous demandions lanomination officielle et rémunérée d'un scienti-fique pédagogue à la direction de ce nouveau ser-vice. Cela nous a été refusé.

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