Links to Learning: Developing a Museum Teacher Training Program

Karen Hembree

Research Proposal

May 5, 2001

I. Introduction

A. General Problem Statement

As with most schools across the nation, academic excellence is of primary concern for those in Ector County Independent School District. In Kent Seidel's research on  "How the Arts Contribute to Education," the inclusion of arts are as much a part of a child's development and success as they are a part of a successful and enlightened society." An important component in  "particularly strong educational programs"  includes relationships with arts organizations (Seidel 1996). To help support these relationships in Ector County, an organization was developed called Child's Play, Inc.  Five-thousand students are able to tour special exhibits targeting students at Ellen Noël Art Museum. Teacher training for museum visits has been challenging due to the number of teachers requiring training. In response, the school administration designated curriculum specialists to receive training at the Museum. The curriculum specialists would then train teachers back at their home schools. Theoretically, all the teachers receive teacher training, educational packets and have access to a video of the exhibit. The administration has informed the Museum, funds for the printing of educational packets will no longer be available. Many of the teachers feel unprepared to lead students through the exhibit. There seems to be a high correlation between teachers who have received adequate training and positive evaluations of the museum visit. Responding to the need for additional training and inexpensive access to educational materials, an educational component to the Museums website will be developed.   

To help build successful partnerships between the schools and the museum, Leah M. Melber highlights in  "Beyond the classroom: Linking with Informal Education" the importance of utilizing resources from both institutions. "Informal learning institutions must continue to disseminate helpful information, while teacher feedback will ensure the creation of useful, relevant classroom curriculums." (Melber 1999). This research will document the museum/school partnership in regards to the Child's Play exhibit, at the Ellen Noël Art Museum. An integral part of this partnerships involves teacher training in preparation for the students' museum visit. Through qualitative research, I intend to investigate an accessible and efficient teacher training program to prepare educators for their visits with students to the museum. With the museum collaborating with teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists and the Child's Play committee to help provide an enriched experience for students, many differing viewpoints will need to be considered. Evaluative methodology utilizing a theoretical framework of hermeneutics will aid in developing the overall guidelines for the program. The major constructs in this research are the method and effectiveness of teacher training.

B. Review of Literature

Outline for Literature Review

I. Introduction to the Literature review, parameters and its organization as it relates to the problem statement

II. Theoretical Framework Web Based accessibility, learning-effectiveness, time-effectiveness, cost-effectiveness

      A. Accessibility 

      B. Learning-effectiveness

      C. Time-effectiveness

      D. Cost- Effectiveness

III. Nature of Art Museum Education Programs

      A. Types of Art Museum Teacher Education Programs

      B. Examples of Art Museum Teacher Education Programs

      C. Format Content Pedagogy of Teacher Education Programs

IV.  Evaluation Methodology

       A. Web-Quest, Think Quest, and other Web Based Evaluation Methodologies

       B. Evaluation Methodology used in Museum Education

       C. Evaluation Methodology used to Evaluate Teacher Training 

V. Summary of Literature Review in Statement Relation to Study's Problem

C. Specific Research Questions 

• How has the current teacher training helped to prepare teachers for museum visits?
• Is the current training material relevant?
• What type of training or combination of training methods would be most efficient : video, museum workshop, Internet training, information packets, Curriculum Specialist training?
•  What methods do other  museum /school partnership programs utilize in training teachers?
• Are teachers interested in including the arts in their curriculum?
• What Internet Resources are available to the teachers?
• How can teachers, administrators, museum staff and Child's Play committee work to build a stronger partnership?

      1. Definition of key terms

            Curriculum specialists are teachers especially designated to develop and help implement curriculum. They also help with teacher training  in each school.

            Child's Play Inc. an non-profit organization developed to help fund special art programs in area institutions for the benefit of Ector County Independent School students.                    

            Ector County Independent School District is a school district in Region 18 serving forty-one campuses located in Odessa, Texas. Mission statement:  "the Ector County Independent School District will provide children with the learning experiences to be productive, successful members of an ever-changing  world." (E.C.I.S.D. Web site)

           Informal Learning non-traditional learning that occurs outside the classroom setting.

      2. Operational definition of variables

          Effective teacher training in this study will be determined by the percentage of teachers reached, relevancy of information received, cost of program, time spent in development of program, and time spent in actual teacher training.

         Methods of training for this research include: video, museum training, curriculum enrichment specialist training, teacher training packet, and Internet training.

D. Significance of the Proposed Study

Informal learning has a significant long-term  impact on students. In Falk's study Accessing long-term impact of museum field trips,  subjects  reported "highly salient and indelible memories...these memories represented evidence of learning across a wide array of diverse topics."(Falk 1997) Utilizing the rich environment of the museum along with the expertise of the teachers, museum/ school partnerships help enrich the lives of students. This study will document the ongoing development of a teacher training program at the Ellen Noël Art Museum. As part of the development of the teacher training program at the Museum, an Internet component will be developed for easier accessibility for teachers and reduction of expenses. "Interactivity ' is the single greatest contribution that Web technology has to offer the museum field-and the least exploited....No other forum available to museums...allows us two-way communication with such a large, eclectic audience at such a nominal expense' " (Sarraf 1999), (Glasser 1997). The survey developed in this research of Internet museum education sites will be available for other institutions to utilize in developing innovative and relevant educational programming. Challenges and successes of the Museum/school partnership will be highlighted to better understand the relationship. While this research only deals only with teacher training at the museum the knowledge gained will set the ground work for other Internet educational opportunities for adult learning and students. 

II. Design and Methodology

     A. Subjects

1. The population of this research study will include teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists, museum staff, and museum gallery attendants/ volunteers  involved with teacher training or tours for Child's Play, Inc. at the Ellen Noël Art Museum. 

2. With approximately two hundred and sixty classes participating in Child's Play, it is feasible to target all teachers involved with tours and all teachers receiving training at the museum or on-line. This will provide a comprehensive teacher response to the training and tours  to  better understand the strengths and weaknesses of these programs. A systematic random sampling  of 5% of teachers participating in  the tours will be interviewed  to add depth the data collected. Museum Internet sites to be evaluated will be selected based on  innovative  presentation, relevant information and interactive components. The survey will be conducted to gather data for input in developing an  Internet teacher training component for the Ellen Noël Art Museum's website. 

3. Each evaluation form will have a consensual clause added and interviewees will be asked to sign a consensual agreement. The Internet evaluation informs the participants of the data usage for research and restricted use of e-mail addresses. 

4. In the consensual clause and agreement participants will be assured of their anonymity. Pseudonyms will be used when referring to  individual participants.

B. Instrumentation

     1. Two post -tests will be administered to teachers evaluating tours and training to gather data on the effectiveness, relevancy and efficiency of the programs. The museum gallery attendant/volunteer will be asked to fill out a short evaluation of their observations of the Child's Play tour and attach to each teacher evaluation. Follow-up interviews to teachers will be administered for further insight into the challenges and successes of the museum/school  partnership during Child's Play.  An evaluative survey of museum educational sites on the Internet will be developed to be used as a comparative tool in developing a museum teacher training component on the Internet for Child's Play.

    2. Each post-test will be standardized and administered equally. It is assumed all teachers have received training before touring the Child's Play Exhibit.  Threats to the instrument reliability are substitutes who did not receive training and teachers unprepared for museum visit. These threats will be targeted by the evaluations filled out by the museum gallery attendant/volunteer. Research evaluation will reflect these numbers and responses. Another threat to instrumentation is the time constraints or pressure on a teacher to complete the post-test while their class is in the museum. The museum gallery attendant/volunteer will aide in relieving the teacher for a few minutes while the post-test is completed.

C. Procedures

In developing a successful partnership  between the schools and museums during Child's Play, communication is essential. Initially, a strategic planning session will begin with school administrators and the museum staff to map out the major goals of the partnership and develop a timeline for implementation. Concurrently, a survey of museum educational sites will begin to collect comparative data for Internet training component. Funding sources will be investigated to hire one or two teachers to work collaboratively with museum education staff in developing curriculum for targeted ages touring Child's Play exhibit. Subsequent meetings with museum staff and administrators will be attended by these two teachers. Results from the Internet survey will be evaluated by museum staff and teachers to develop a teacher training component on the Internet for Child's Play. A post-test will be placed at the end of the teacher training on the Internet. Two museum workshops will be offered  for curriculum specialists, museum volunteers, and teachers to train for the Child's Play exhibit. These teachers will receive a post-test after training. A video will be prepared and aired on E.C.I.S.D. television through out the Child's Play exhibit. Teachers will fill out a post-test after Child's Play tour with students. Gallery attendants will complete an evaluation on their perspective of each tour. Follow-up teacher  interviews will be administered. The evaluations will be compiled and results reviewed at a meeting with administrators, teachers, Child's Play committee and museum staff to address challenges and reevaluate goals for the next museum /school partnership for Child's Play.

D. Data Analysis and Presentation

     1. Data will be compiled in a data base and analyzed thematically. A cost and time analysis will be included in the statistical analysis. 

      2. Several tables to be included will be the initial mapping diagram, program cost and time analysis, teacher training methods utilized, and major themes derived from the post-tests and interviews. 

 Design Limitations of Assumptions

 As a participate in the research and the author of the research, there are certainly personal and professional biases to consider. Using a hermeneutic approach of incorporating different viewpoints and systematically repeating the cycle of iteration, analysis, and evaluation should help to add depth of perspective and ideas to this study.

III. References

Ector County Independent School District Website < http://nse.ecisd.esc18.net/ecisd/default.htm#ECISD%20 Mision%20satement>.

Falk, John H. Dierking, Lynn D. "School field trips: Assessing their long-term impact." Curator, v. 40 (Sept. 97): 211-18.

Glasser, Susan. "Museum publications of the Web: Experiences new ideas/new audiences." MW Conference Papers. <http://www.archimuse.com/mw97speak/glasser.htmh>.

Melber, Leah M.; Abraham, Linda M. "Beyond the classroom: linking with informal education."  Science Activities, v. 36 no. 1 (spring 1999): 3-4.

Olsen, Sandra H. ; Panetski, Stanley; and Polka, Walter S. "An arts connection with a focus on improving learning standards." Educational Horizons, v. 78, no 4 (summer 2000): 194-204.

Sarraf, Suzanne. "A survey of Museums of the web: who uses museum websites?" Curator. v. 42 no3 (July 1999): 231-43.

Seidel, Kent, Ph.D. "How the arts contribute to education an evaluation of research." Research commissioned for a Brochure by the Association for the Advancement of Arts Education, (1996)   < http://www.aaae.org/artsbro/method.htm>.

IV. Appendices

A.  Teacher Training Evaluation 

B. Child's Play Gallery Attendant/Volunteer Evaluation

C. Child's Play Tour Evaluation

D. Interview Consent Form

E. Interview Questions

F. Internet Evaluation From

G. Proposed time schedule for completing the study

The proposed study would commence immediately and proceed over the next two years. 

H. Chapter outline for final report

1. Introduction, problem statement, background history, significance of study
2. Survey results of museum education sites on the Internet
3. Documentation of school/ museum partnership
4. Results of post-tests and interviews from trainings and tours
5. Reassessment and summary
6. Appendices