Curator’s Curiosities: Active Learning as Interpretive Pedagogy

ABSTRACT

The Curator’s Curiosities program was launched at Fort Henry National Historic Site in the summer of 2017 as an object-based interpretive program. In addition to learning the history of an artifact from the collection, participants were taught how to properly handle and catalogue the artifact, under the supervision of trained museum staff. This program marked an innovation in the interpretive programming at Fort Henry, as it drew attention to the work that goes on behind-the-scenes to support the site. As well, this program offers an example of active learning as an interpretive pedagogy. This article offers a brief history of interpretation at Fort Henry and a review of the Curator’s Curiosities program, before detailing how object-based active learning pedagogy can be a benefit for historic and cultural sites.

KEYWORDS:

• Fort Henry
• active learning
• object-based learning
• interpretive pedagogy
• historical interpretation

Acknowledgements

Daniel would like to thank Fort Henry curator Alex McLean for his supervision and guidance and museum intern James Dashwood for his assistance during the creative process for Curator’s Curiosities. He would also like to acknowledge the instruction of Professor Hooley McLaughlin at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information for inspiring an interest in experimenting with museum programming. Michael spent the 2017 season leading the historical interpretation at Fort Henry alongside Charles Ecclestone and Sara Sturgeon, and he would like to thank Charles and Sara for their assistance. He would also like to thank Andrea Phillipson and Andy Leger for their mentorship in active learning pedagogy through the Queen’s Centre for Teaching and Learning. Both authors would like to thank the talented team of interpreters and support staff at Fort Henry, especially the world-renowned Fort Henry Guard.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

About the authors

Michael P. A. Murphy is a doctoral candidate in International Relations at the University of Ottawa. He received the Fort Henry Guard Club of Canada Award for Guard of the Year in 2016. He has published articles on politics and pedagogy in such venues as Sport in Society, the Journal of Political Science Education, and the Canadian Political Science Review.

Daniel Rose is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s Master of Museum Studies Program. As a museum assistant at Fort Henry, Daniel helped with the exhibit and program planning, including Curator’s Curiosities. He has also co-curated several exhibits, such as Case Studies: A History of Physics Innovation (University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection) and The Kingston Gunners (Fort Henry).

ORCID

Michael P. A. Murphy http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9523-4402

Notes

1 Way, “Old Fort Henry,” 167.

2 Ibid., 169.

3 Way, “Soldiering at Fort Henry,” 196; Mecredy, Fort Henry, passim.

4 Peacock, “Interpreting a Past.”

5 Mecredy, Fort Henry, 29.

6 McKenna, “Women’s History,” 24. Beginning in the 1990s, women were also admitted as members of the Fort Henry Guard (see McKenna, “Women’s History”; Peacock, “Interpreting a Past.”).

7 Murphy, “‘Blending’ Docent Learning,” 49–50.

8 Murphy, “Rifle Demonstrations at Fort Henry”; Peacock, “Interpreting a Past.”

9 Quoted in Mecredy, Fort Henry, 92.

10 Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 58.

11 Larsen, “Be Relevant or Become a Relic,” 19.

12 See Frederick, “Student Involvement”; Michael, “Where’s the Evidence”; Murphy, “Using Active-Learning Pedagogy”; Phillipson, Riel, and Leger, “Between Knowing and Learning.”

13 Michael, “Where’s the Evidence,” 161. For an example of skill development, see Murphy, “Using Active-Learning.”

14 E.g. Chatterjee, “Object-Based Learning”; Ererbach and Crowley, “From Living to Virtual”; Paris, Perspectives.

15 Kilroy, “Problem Based Learning,” 412 (emphasis in original).

16 Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 65.

17 Their article has already received a number of citations, including in work on interdisciplinary practitioner-led change at heritage sites (Gilson, “Inspiring Change”) and in physical activity promotion efforts at Gettysburg National Military Park (Taff et al., “Civil War Buff”).

18 Knapp and Forist, “New Interpretive Pedagogy,” 35.

19 Ibid., 37.

20 Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 58.