Learning From Museums
Why do people go to museums and what do they learn there? What roles can museums serve in a learning community? How can museums facilitate more effective learning experiences? John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking investigate these questions in Learning from Museums. Synthesizing theories and research from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, education, anthropology, neuroscience and museum research, Falk and Dierking explain the nature and process of learning as it occurs within...
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ForewordPreface1Learning from Museums: An Introduction12The Personal Context153The Sociocultural Context374The Physical Context535Museums and the Individual696Communities of Learners917A Place for Learning1138The Contextual Model of Learning1359Documenting Learning from Museums14910Making Museums Better Learning Experiences17711Museums in the Larger Society20512The Future of Museums219References237Index265About the Authors271
\ Museum NationalJohn Falk and Lynn Dierking have been talking to museum visitors and conducting research on the visiting experience for over twenty years. . . . Learning from Museums . . . elaborates topics such as museums and the individual, communities of learners, documenting learning, improving the visitor experience, museums in society, and the future of museums. Visits are both learning and fun, choice of what and when to learn is intrinsic to the museum experience, conversation is a primary mechanism of knowledge construction . . . and meaning is elaborated by subsequent experiences. . . . Each chapter finishes with conclusions, key points, and very extensive references: very accessible stuff!. . . When museums take advantage of visitor research they . . . acknowledge the importance of good communication. The message of Learning from Museums must be understood by all concerned with that fundamental aim of museums: the increase and diffusion of understanding.\ — Des Griffin, The Australian Museum, Sydney\ \ \ \ \ Visitor Studies Today!Those interested in visitor studies and informal educational environments will find much to engage them and to think about in this book and I expect to see many quotations from it in student work.\ — Paulette McManus, (University College, London)\ \
