A CHRONOLOGICAL STUDY OF EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION IN THE AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM Bettye Alexander Cook, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2007 APPROVED: Gloria Contreras, Major Professor Janet Ellis, Minor Professor T. Lindsay Baker, Committee Member James Laney, Program Coordinator Leslie Patterson, Chair of the Department of Teacher Education and Administration M. Jean Keller, Dean of the College of Education Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Cook, Bettye Alexander. A Chronological Study of Experiential Education in the American History Museum. Doctor of Education (Curriculum & Instruction), December 2007, 248 pp., references, 397 titles. This study traced the evolution of experiential education in American history museums from 1787 to 2007. Because of a decline in attendance, museum educators need to identify best practices to draw and retain audiences. I used 16 museology and history journals, books, and archives of museums prominent for using the method. I also interviewed 15 museum educators who employ experiential learning, one master interpreter of the National Park Service, and an independent museum exhibit developer. Experiential education involves doing with hands touching physical materials. Four minor questions concerned antecedents of experiential learning, reasons to invest in the method, the influence of social context, and cultural pluralism. Next is a review of the theorists whose works support experiential learning: Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Lewin, Bruner, Eisner, Hein, and David Kolb plus master parks interpreter Freeman Tilden. The 8 characteristics they support include prior experiences, physical action, interaction with the environment, use of the senses, emotion, social relationships, and personal meaning. Other sections are manifestation of experiential learning, transformation of history museums, and cultural pluralism in history museums. The research design is descriptive, and the procedure, document analysis and structured interview. Findings are divided by decades after the first 120 years. Social context, examples of experiential learning, and multicultural activities are detailed. Then findings are discussed by patterns of delivery: sensory experiences, actions as diversion and performance, outreach of traveling trunks and of organized activity, crafts as handwork and as skills, role-playing, simulation, hands-on museum work, and minor patterns. The decline of involvement of citizens in the civic and cultural life of the community has adversely affected history museums. Experiential learning can stop this trend and transform museum work, as open- air museums and the National Park Service have demonstrated. In the future history museums may include technology, a more diverse audience, and adults in its experiential educational plans to thrive. Further research is needed on evaluation, finances, and small museums. Copyright 2007 by Bettye Alexander Cook ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge with gratitude the expertise and the commitment to scholarship of the committee members from the University of North Texas: Dr. Gloria Contreras, major professor, and Dr. Janet Ellis, minor professor. I also acknowledge with gratitude the expertise on museology and language, as well as giving many hours of time for no remuneration, of committee member Dr. T. Lindsay Baker. He is associate professor of social sciences and W.K. Gordon Texas Industrial Chair from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. The Library of the Department of Museum Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, provided total access to invaluable materials that could be found in no other place. The New Public Library, the Research Library and Archives of Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey, and the Research Library and Archives of Brooklyn Museum helped me with materials available only in those repositories. Fifteen museum educators, one master interpreter from the National Parks Service, and one independent exhibit developer shared their time and knowledge of contemporary experiential education. The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Alpha State, awarded scholarships of $11,500 for this study to me. I thank them all. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................1 Purpose of Study Origin and Significance of Study Definition and History of Museum Definition of Experiential Education Research Questions Definition of Terms 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .......................................................................................22 Experiential Learning Prior Experience Physical Action Interaction with Environment Use of the Senses Emotion Social Relationships Personal Meaning The Manifestations of Experiential Learning in History Museums Transformation of History Museums Cultural Pluralism and History Museums 3. METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE..............................................................................52 Descriptive Research Design Document Analysis and Structured Interview Procedure 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ..................................................................69 Findings History Comes Alive: 1780-1899 The “Immigrant Problem”:1900-1909 The Great War: 1910-1919 Roaring Optimism: 1920-1929 The Great Depression: 1930-1939 The War Years: 1940-1949 The Cold War: 1950-1959 iv Social Upheaval: 1960-1969 Consciousness-Raising: 1970-1979 Retrenchment of Equity: 1980-1989 The Internet Explosion: 1990-1999 “Hot” Interpretation: 2000-2007 Discussion of Results Sensory Experiences Activities for Diversion and Performance Crafts: Handwork Crafts: Skill Outreach: Traveling Trunks Outreach: Organized Activity Role-playing Simulation Hands-on Museum Work Mobile Museums, Archaeological Excavations, Response Books, and Other Actions 5. CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY..........................................................................................165 Conclusions Recommendations for History Museums Recommendations for Further Research APPENDICES A QUESTIONNAIRE .........................................................................................................180 B INFORMED CONSENT FORM ....................................................................................182 C INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS........................................................................................186 D HOUSE BILL 389 ...........................................................................................................222 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................226 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Museums are places of possibility. --Rika Burnham & Elliott Kai-Kee When a visitor enters a museum, he or she comes with prior experiences, keen senses, various emotions, and informal learning expectations. The museum has a special opportunity to engage a willing learner who is open to the possibility of new experiences. The history museum in particular has always been a repository of collection and memory, faithfully preserving artifacts of the past, at times to be viewed with awe or nostalgia. It concurrently has served the integral role of an educator. In the history museum, the viewer constructs his or her own meanings as he or she interacts with objects and activities. Pioneer interpreter Freeman Tilden asserted, “The visitor is unlikely to respond unless what you have to tell, or to show, touches his personal experience, thoughts, hopes, way of life, social position, or whatever else” (1957/1977, 13). Beyond learning through text or a tour guide’s script, the visitor often seeks a hands-on experience. Today, more than ever, he or she wants choice and involvement when coming to the museum. As Jan Packer (2006) pointed out, many visitors come to participate, not just to be lectured. Packer further suggested that such activity can “include a rich sensory experience, novelty, surprise, fascination, nostalgia, and the freedom to explore and to engage with information at a range of levels” (341). At its best, the institution offers tools and materials with which people, whether they are children or adults, can explore other times and other places. In considering children and their relationship to these places of learning, Bruno Bettelheim concurred when he said, “because a world that is not full of wonders is one hardly worth the effort of growing up in” (1980, 25). As for adults and museums, Wade Richards and Margaret 1 Menninger felt that active inquiry helps adults to engage in a learning experience “emotionally” (1993). Clifford Geertz (1973) echoed the idea of engaging adults, for a museum can enable people of different ethnicities and cultures, not just the dominant Western European one, to find their story. It is almost as though the physical place becomes the Greek agora or forum. Voices once silent are raised. Attention must be paid to the sounds of the voices of the impoverished, women, ethnic minorities, the old, the disabled, and interest groups (Lusaka & Strand, 1998). It is time for the American history museum to examine and erase the bias of the past in order to embrace the diversity of all Americans. Visitors of different ethnic backgrounds and cultures