What We Do Best

Making the Case for the Museum Learning in its Own Right

Ben Garcia Ben Garcia is Head of Interpretation and Operations at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology located at the University of California, Berkeley. For fifteen years he has worked as an educator and administrator with an emphasis on arts-and object-based education, lifelong learning and professional development. He has presented nationally and internationally on informal learning, museums and social change. He holds a B.A. in Art from the University of Massachusetts and a M.S. Ed. in Museum Education and Leadership from Bank Street College. In 2010 Garcia was named Pacific Region Art Museum Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association.

Abstract

It is time to revisit the way we describe and advocate for the “learning power” of museums. Museum learning is unique, multi-faceted and inspires higher-order affective and cognitive development. Yet, when museums describe their educational impact to stakeholders, it is often described narrowly, using the measures of formal education rather than focusing on its capacity to model intrinsically-motivated, joyful, open-ended learning that supports self-knowledge and positive social behavior. Museum educators are not doing enough to make a case for the value of museum learning in its own right with political, civic, educational and even museum entities.

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What We Do Best

Making the Case for the Museum Learning in its Own Right

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What We Do Best

Making the Case for the Museum Learning in its Own Right

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