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Presentation at the British Museum in January 2011
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The British Museum27 January 2011
Museum Websites for Learning: a case study of the use of ‘Tate Kids’ in primary art education
Koula [email protected]
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‘Museum 2.0’: a distributed network
Source: Proctor, 2009
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Gap in the research
• Web statistics of museums’ websites often indicate a high number of users and visit sessions in on-line resources for schools and teachers
BUT • These numbers do not reveal how these resources are
being used in the classroom
• In practice, effective and sustainable bridges between the wealth of museum digital content and the classroom environment have not yet been built (Peacock et al. 2009)
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Younger age group and museums
• Younger age groups have poor perceptions towards museums. They view museums as “boring, didactic, unapproachable and preoccupied with the past”
(Bartlett & Kelly, 2000)
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Aims
• To reach a better understanding on how to support use of art museum websites in primary art education
• To investigate:
– to what extent can museum websites promote positive attitudes among children?
– to what extent does the use of museums’ web-resources enhance learning and engage children with the museum?
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Assumption
• IF • children are given opportunities to view the art museum
and works of art on their own terms, using tools many are very familiar with (computers, websites and mp3s) and to engage with the museum processes through co-creation
• THEN • any persistent ideas that art museums are uncomfortable
and elitist formal spaces, and that art is ‘not for them’ may be broken down
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Research Framework
• Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs)
‘Inspiring Learning for All’ Framework (MLA 2004)
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‘My Gallery’
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Participants
• A co-educational school in greater London • Two Year-5 classes (10-11 years old)
– Class A: 22 pupils – Class B: 21 pupils
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1st Pre-test QuestionnairePre-intervention activity with ‘Ophelia’
2ndClassroom session
ICT sessions (Exploring Tate Kids & My
Gallery)
‘Artcasts’ (in groups)
3rdPost-intervention activity with ‘Ophelia’
Post-test Questionnaire
4th Face to face interviews (participants and teachers)
Sessions
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Research Instruments
• Questionnaires pre-test questionnaire (n=37) post-test questionnaire (n=40)
• Interviews teachers (n=2)
children (n=16)
• Observation of the participants activity sheets to children ‘meaning maps’ use of the website audio files (children’s discussions and ‘Artcasts’) video files field notes
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• Qualitative techniques Content analysis
‘meaning maps’: emergent themes were identified ‘Artcasts’ and Activity Sheets: analysis using pre-existing
categories and emergent themes. Frequencies of occurrence of themes were noted
Interviews : data was put into GLOs categories and themes were identified
Questionnaires (open-ended questions): emergent themes were identified. Frequencies of occurrence of themes were noted
• Quantitative techniques Questionnaires: tables of variable’s frequencies
Analysis of Data
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Presentation of Data
• I. ‘Attitudes and Values’ • II. ‘Skills’ & ‘Knowledge and Understanding’
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Children’s prior perceptions about museums
• a) ‘museum as a learning place’
• “Museums give us a chance to learn things…”
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• b) ‘museum as a boring place’
Children’s prior perceptions about museums
“Sometimes they [museums] can get a bit boring, because there is not much to do…when you just have to read lots about a statue […] it gets a bit boring […] We are all tired when we go to museums”
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• c) ‘Museums are about things from the past’• “old building”• “old and retired people are there”• “old artefacts are stored”• “old things can be explored”
• d) ‘Tangible notion of museums’• “ a building, which holds pictures, sculptures […]”
Children’s prior perceptions about museums
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• Q. Has this project made you feel any differently about museums?
• “Before Tate’s website I used to think that museums are sometimes boring, but after the project […] I think that museums are really that good […]”
• “I thought that museums…you go there and look at things and that’s it…but now, I know they have websites and I can go on them”.
• • “I love museums and [the project] made me love
them better and understand them more”
Children’s final perceptions about museums
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• All of the interviewees showed the website to family and friends
• All interviewees would like to visit Tate Gallery • A fourth of the interviewees had asked their
parents/relatives to take them to Tate Gallery• More than a third of them asked specific information
about Tate Gallery
Children’s final perceptions about museums
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• Q. What is art to you?
• Art as a ‘fun experience’
• Art as an ‘‘art making’ experience’
• Art as a ‘school subject’
Children’s prior perceptions about art
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• Children’s experience in looking at and talking about works of art was limited
• “[…] I don’t get the picture, I don’t really get the picture…and I don’t know if the artwork is good”.
• “Art isn’t treated as in school. When you get to do some stuff out of school for art, you don’t get to do as much as you do at school”.
Children’s prior perceptions about art
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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• Q. ‘Has this project made you feel any differently about art?
• “I feel better now, I can talk about art […] It [the project] was good because we learnt about art. In art we just do art, while we can talk about it now”
Children’s final perceptions about art
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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Children’s final perceptions about art
• Q. What is art to you?
• “[…]I wouldn’t think it’s just scribbling on paper, I would say it’s something else, like looking at the picture, see if there is information or a story […]”.
• “Art is for everyone. You may draw a picture and you may not like it but someone else might like it and get stuff from it. You might see a picture and you might not like it but someone else might like it […]”
I. ‘Attitudes and Values’
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Children’s Interpretive Strategies
• The analysis of children’s interpretations is based on: visual analysis of the artwork (colour, tone, composition, form, space)
process of art-making (materials, technique and style)
drawing on ‘socio-cultural context’ of the artwork (subject-matter, artist, personal associations and context)
• (RCMG, 2001)
• Emergent theme: drawing on ‘social techniques’
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
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a. ‘Ophelia’
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
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Aris’ first attempt to interpret ‘Ophelia’
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
“I thought of nothing, my mind was blank”
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Aris’ second attempt to interpret ‘Ophelia’
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
“It’s a woman dead in the river and flowers are falling from the trees above onto her while (will) she is floating down the rivercolours: green, white, pink and black
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II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
Pre-intervention activity with ‘Ophelia’
Post-intervention activity with ‘Ophelia’
Socio- Cultural context’ • Description of the scene and children’s
interpretation of it (27 out of 37)• Make up a story (10 out of 37)• Personal Associations (5 out of 37)• Context (1 out of 37)
Socio- Cultural’ context • Description of the scene and children’s
interpretation of it (18 out of 37)• Make up a story (17 out of 37)• Personal Associations ( 24 out of
37)• Context (4 out of 37)• Meaning of the painting (8 out of 37)• Artist (7 out of 37)
Visual Analysis • Colour (3 out of 37)
Visual Analysis • Colour (14 out of 37)
Process of art making Process of art making • Materials (3 out of 37)
‘Social Techniques’ Social Techniques’• Discussions among children (‘collective
interpretations’)
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• Fourteen children posted twenty-two comments on ten artworks
• Drawing on the ‘socio-cultural context’ emerged as the dominant strategy
• “It looks like when I watched Tom n Jerry and there was a big explosion”
• “ […] It reminds me of cartoons”
• Not involved in dialogic conversations
b. Tate Kids
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
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b. Tate Kids
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
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c. ‘Artcasts’
• children in groups• tools: digital recorder, laptop, script • n=13 audio files • time: 30-40min each
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‘A portrait of a Frenchman’ Patrick Caulfield (Source: http://kids.tate.org.uk)
c. ‘Artcasts’ (continued)
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c. ‘Artcasts’
• References to the artist and title (13 out of 13)• Drawing on ‘socio-cultural context’ dominant
strategy • - make up a story (13 out of 13)• - personal associations (6 out of 13)• - meaning of the artwork (3 out of 13)
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
“I think it is a really funny picture and I enjoy looking at it. It makes me feel this way because it has Mickey-mouse in it. It reminds me of a mouse jumping out of a box […] I think the artist was inspired by a TV series. He might had children who were watching this programme.
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• ‘Visual elements’ of the artwork ( 12 out of 13) • (not only colour, but tone and form too) • “It is like a photograph because the colours are very real
and have lots of details” • “It’s very bright in the face…On one of the ears he has
mainly used chalk to show that one of the ears is sticking out […]
• ‘Processes of art-making’ (4 out of 13) • - materials and techniques• “We think the artist used tissue paper and painted over it” • “ […] It looks like he copied and pasted the wieners’
sausages and the characters […]”
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
c. ‘Artcasts’
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• A head of a young boy 1945 (Pablo Picasso)
Example 1
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
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• “The picture was made when the war finished at 1945. I think the reason why the artist aint’ showing
the body is because the boy got executed”.
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Example 2
“The meeting or have a nice day Mr Hockney” (Peter Blake )
II. ‘Skills’/ ‘Knowledge & Understanding’
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• “The one in white would be Mr Hockney’s assistant and I think they would say: ‘Have a nice day Mr Hockney’. Mr Hockney would say ‘Thank you’”.
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Findings
• The use of a museum’s website helped to build positive perceptions about museums among the participants
• Participants now view art in a highly positive and broader way and not exclusively as an ‘art making’ experience
• ‘Artcasting’ was an enjoyable activity
• Participants were employing a wider range of ‘interpretive strategies’
• The use of a museum’s website can enhance learning and engage children
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• The use of art museum websites can be beneficial for a holistic approach to art education
• Museum websites can be the means for museums to address young people’s negative attitudes
• Further tools are required on museum websites that will enable interpretation and meaning-making process.
Conclusions
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• How can ‘Web 2.0’ technologies alongside museum and classroom spaces be utilised to create participatory learning experiences which are engaging and meaningful for young people?
• (How) can social interactions online facilitate the meaning-making process and lead to a shared understanding around museum artifacts?
• How does ‘web 2.0’ allow young people a new type of engagement with museum artifacts and museums to explore new styles of communicating cultural content to their audiences?
Way forward: PhD research
