Collecting the Future

How can museums use their collections, interpretations and traditions of encouraging debate to help people re-imagine and reshape their lives in a world profoundly altered by climate change?

In October of 2013, ObjectIDEA attended  Collecting the Future: Museums, Communities, and Climate Change, a workshop at the American Museum of Natural History In New York City. The workshop brought together curators, educators, historians, anthropologists and other scholars and practitioners from around the world to explore how museums can move beyond a singular focus on science education to address and integrate the physical, social, cultural and emotional dimensions of climate change. It provided a stimulating forum in which to explore how our institutions can contribute to building communities able to engage and respond to profound transformations of social and ecological systems around the globe.

Attendees

Toward Environmental Literacy

With a goal of nurturing students to become ecoliterate, the Center for Ecoliteracy has identified five vital practices that integrate emotional, social, and ecological intelligence. They are described at greater length in their book,

Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence

(Jossey-Bass, 2012), from which the excerpt below is taken.

The Center for Ecoliteracy works to inspire teachers to use a variety of learning opportunities that help students consider and apply these practices in a diverse range of contexts. These practices allow students to strengthen and extend their capacity to live sustainably. Upon discovering this organization and these principles, we are inspired to keep these five practices in our “back pocket” and refer to them when planning nature center and natural history exhibitions:

1. Developing Empathy for All Forms of Life

encourages students to expand their sense of compassion to other forms of life. By shifting from our society's dominant mindset (which considers humans to be separate from and superior to the rest of life on Earth) to a view that recognizes humans as being members of the web of life, students broaden their care and concern to include a more inclusive network of relationships.

2. Embracing Sustainability as a Community Practice

emerges from knowing that organisms do not exist in isolation. The quality of the web of relationships within any living community determines its collective ability to survive and thrive. By learning about the wondrous ways that plants, animals, and other living things are interdependent, students are inspired to consider the role of interconnectedness within their communities and see the value in strengthening those relationships by thinking and acting cooperatively.

3. Making the Invisible Visible

assists students in recognizing the myriad effects of human behavior on other people and the environment. The impacts of human behavior have expanded exponentially in time, space, and magnitude, making the results difficult if not impossible to understand fully. Using tools to help make the invisible visible reveals the far-reaching implications of human behavior and enables us to act in more life-affirming ways.

4. Anticipating Unintended Consequences

is a twofold challenge of predicting the potential implications of our behaviors as best we can, while at the same time accepting that we cannot foresee all possible cause-and-effect associations. Assuming that the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life, students can adopt systems thinking and the “precautionary principle” as guidelines for cultivating a way of living that defends rather than destroys the web of life. Second, we build resiliency by supporting the capacity of natural and social communities to rebound from unintended consequences.

5. Understanding How Nature Sustains Life

is imperative for students to cultivate a society that takes into account future generations and other forms of life. Nature has successfully supported life on Earth for billions of years. Therefore, by examining the Earth's processes, we learn strategies that are applicable to designing human endeavors.

From

Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social and Ecological Intelligence

, by Daniel Goleman, Lisa Bennett, and Zenobia Barlow. Copyright © 2012 by Center for Ecoliteracy.

Historical Chronologies as Exhibits – Pros and Cons

What are the pros and cons of organizing an entire history exhibition based on a chronology of events? In museum environments, where random circulation is likely and visitor behavior resembles serial clicking on the internet, what interpretive and design strategies can help visitors grasp, appreciate, and use chronology?

Please comment to this posting if you have thoughts about:

• What "handrails" can be used to assist visitors in grasping the circulation of chronologically organized exhibits? 

• What floor plan schemes (linear, hub & spoke, theme chapters, etc.) have you encountered?

• Regarding exhibitions that escort visitors to the present day, what can a museum do so the exhibit remains contemporary? How will the ending not be out of date on opening day?

• At what point (length, square footage, stay-time?) is a chronological history exhibit just too much?

I've experienced a few interesting examples where exhibitions have afforded me the opportunity to dip in and out of chronology while exploring themes in a more random order according to my interests (the Minnesota History Center's

Weather Permitting

, and the Oakland Museum's

Gallery of California History

come to mind).

Regarding grand, chronological narratives, what successes and failures have you struggled with as an exhibit professional, solved as an interpretive planner or exhibit designer, and experienced as a visitor?

Please share your insight?

Thank you!

Aha! What is “Felt Meaning?”

Identifying a relationship between visitors and objects or events is the most powerful contextual interpretive strategy. It is also at the heart of constructivism.

“Relating” is learning in the context of one’s life experiences or pre-existing knowledge.

Teachers use

relating

when they link a new concept to something completely familiar to students, thus connecting what students already know to the new information. When the link is successful, students gain almost instant insight.

Caine and Caine

call this reaction “felt meaning” because of the “aha!” sensation that often accompanies the insight. Felt meaning can be momentous, as when a student first sees the solution to a problem that he or she has spent significant time and effort in solving. Felt meaning can also be subtle, as when insight leads to a milder reaction, such as, “Oh, that makes sense.”

Objects. Ideas. Gleanings from 2011

Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Ft Meyers, FL 

Object

: Share the famous homes, inventions, and histories of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.

Idea

: A separate arrival center (located across the street) provides parking, orientation, and a narrative overview, explaining how these two famous men and their families came to become neighbors and innovative colleagues. Their houses and workshop buildings are open to the air: the doors and windows swung wide open, and viewing the interiors is achieved through low and transparent barriers.

An audio-wand program facilitates the self-guided tours and recalls many of the memories of living at the estates and humanizes these larger-than-life men and their families. Clear walkways and a good map keep visitors from wandering too much and impacting the historic integrity of the site.

The Strong and National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY 

Object

: Be a national museum but serve a mostly local visitorship.

Idea

: Many of the exhibits are playful, adventurous, and highly interactive – like a children’s museum.

Kids can come often and let their imaginations run. An ambitious program of changing exhibitions and a living butterfly house ensure there’s always something emerging. Then there is the National Toy Hall of Fame — a collections-based display of popular playthings ranging from Lincoln Logs to Barbie Dolls to sticks-turned-fishing poles, slingshots, and marshmallow roasters. Commonly heard from young and old at the Toy Hall of Fame: “Hey! I played with that!”

Micanopy Museum, Micanopy, Florida

Object

: Attract museum visitors who have been lured close to the museum by nearby shopping.

Idea

: Seek a pittance donation for entry. Be located on the beaten path. Promote perusal, touching, and comparing – a true shopping experience. And then “merchandise the museum” by focusing on charismatic objects interpreted through simple, browsable fact, legend and lore.

Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA

Object

: Be as relevant as you can all the time.

Idea

: Anchor the museum with a thematic and chronological gallery of object-based exhibitions with richly appealing displays of real things. Create beautiful moments of respite. Offer encounters with artifacts, history, and art: the things people think of when they hear the word “museum.” Season the authentic experience with interactive simulation elements and audiovisual media. Juxtapose this experience with a highly ambitious program of flexible displays. We saw an exhibit about the anniversary of a great wildfire, one on the Day of the Dead (during our October visit), and one on the legacy of John Muir.

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

Object

: Keep the locals coming.

Idea

: Make the museum free for all residents who share the museum's zip code. Lure them time and time again with dynamic programs and events — something new every 6 months. Feature world-class exhibitions. Have a kick-butt gift shop and good food.