Pre-Service Teacher Training at the Museum School

Abstract

This article describes the powerful and long-term partnership between a museum preschool and a local university teacher preparation program. The authors describe the unique and rich learning environment of the Museum School and its dramatic and positive impact on pre-service teacher training. The hands-on learning experiences taught at the Museum School inspire children and their pre-service teachers to discover, question, and remember so much more than if the topics were not enhanced with the live animals, taxidermy animals, and other scientific and historical artifacts located at the Museum School. Adding to the allure of placing university students at the Museum School is the freedom from standardized testing that inhibits and shackles the creativity of many excellent teachers in public schools. Working beside such masterful teachers enables pre-service teachers to begin the important mental transition from “student” to “teacher.”