May 17, 2007

Has our research done a better job of helping us understand museum
visitors than it has of helping us understand ourselves?* Let's find
out. 

MUSEUM EDUCATION MONITOR (MEM), the e-newsletter, is now compiling a
list of ongoing research and evaluation projects on questions relating
to museum/gallery education or interpretation for our upcoming June 2007
issue. Work being done by students, academics, and practitioners (paid
and volunteer) is equally welcome.
 
If you wish to share your research or evaluation with others around the
world, please send an e-mail to [log in to unmask] that includes:
- name of project
- research or evaluation question(s) [no more than 50 words, please]
- how the data will be presented [report, article, dissertation,
program, training event, workshop, curriculum, plan for change, etc.]
- principal researcher(s)/ evaluator(s)
- site(s) where research is being conducted
- time span
- contact information
- key words to describe the project [no more than 4 or 5, please]
Deadline for this issue is *Friday, June 8, 2007.*

Listings are, of course, free of charge. Submissions are included in the
current MEM and catalogued afterwards in our archives, which now
contains over 1,200 entries. Full access to the MEM Archives is
available only to subscribers. However, time-limited guest passes are
available to students and interested others by contacting MEM at
[log in to unmask] .

FYI, the following research projects were listed in MEM, April 2007:

- Student teachers: Science teaching self-efficacy and the effects of
science centre styled professional development intervention during
teacher training (Australia)
- Visitor friendliness of Hungarian museums (Hungary)
- Use of the Museums for Educational Purposes: School-Museum Days Museum
Education Program (Turkey)
- Children and young people as co-researchers (UK)
- Artists' community of enquiry (UK)
- A Place For Learning: An exploration of the learning agenda within
cultural organisations (UK)
- Museum and School Partnership for Learning on Field Trips (USA)
- The role of museum summer institutes in the personal and professional
learning of educators (USA)
- Science Center guests ready to talk evolution? (USA)

uPDATES on research listed in earlier issues of MEM:
- Refugees at the Open Air Museum: the museum as a place for informal
lifelong learning. A case study" and "Informal learning as a pathway to
formal learning" (Sweden)
- Three Times Three (UK)
- Use of the Museums for Educational Purposes: School-Museum Days Part 1
(Turkey)

A complimentary copy of this February 2007 issue of Museum Education
Monitor is available upon request to [log in to unmask] .   

Please get in touch for more information about the call or to discuss
your research. I look forward to hearing from you!

M. Christine Castle, Editor, Museum Education Monitor Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada
[log in to unmask]                  
For background on Museum Education Monitor, visit
http://www.mccastle.com/museum.asp       

*Rounds, Jay. 2007. On the uses of museum literature: A research agenda.
CURATOR, The Museum Journal 50 (1):135-146.

(Please excuse cross-postings. I try to extend the call as widely as
possible. Inevitably many of us are subscribed to several electronic
discussion lists related to museum education. For those who are, your
patience is appreciated. CC.}