MUSEUM SCHOOL SERVICES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27018, 18 April 1953, Page 2

MUSEUM SCHOOL SERVICES

VISUAL AND TACTUAL LEARNING

WORK SURVEYED BY OFFICERS

The most important part of education was to give children the fullest appreciation of their environment; education, in its real sense, meant leading a child and nourishing his life, said the school service officer of the Canterbury Museum (Mr H. W. Beaumont) at the Dominion conference of the Art Galleries’ and Museums’ Association yesterday. He was speaking in a symposium of formal educational services in museums and art galleries, contributed by school service officers. In museum classes children could see and touch what they were learning about, instead of merely hearing or reading about the subject, he said. Pupils were presented with problems and asked to find the answer, but they were not required to sit examinations. “Too much time is spent by school teachers telling children things, instead of letting them have the fun and the experience of finding out for themselves,’ he continued. “Climate, curriculum, circumstances, and convention force us to herd children into flocks of 50, corral them in a hollow cube, sit them down for several hours each day—when nature says they should be physically active—and then try to teach them.” Museum classes gave children the opportunity of making careful observations and coming to astute decisions through visual and factual learning, said the senior education officer of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (Mr R. A. Scobie). Boys and girls then adopted a particular attitude to learning which they carried to adulthood. Service in Rural Areas Every child should have an equal right to the educational facilities offering, said Mr L. B. Stannard, chief educational officer of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, -vtfio explained how the museum was taken to people who could not visit it.

Mr Stannard showed the type of display case used in country districts

to illustrate actual exhibitions in museums. The system of using display cases was not entirely satisfactory, and he suggested that bigger and more comprehensive displays, which could be seen by schoolchildren, should be shown in rural areas.

When schools from outlying areas visited museums, pupils had to travel long distances, and it was necessary that museum employees should make them feel welcome, he said. Discussing education in art galleries, Mr Beaumont said that museum officers were willing to co-operate in this field as soon as possible. He considered that teaching methods of art in schools were inadequate. The director of the Auckland Art Gallery (Mr E. Westbrook) said he hoped a school service, as conducted in the museums, would be started soon in art galleries. There was a need for a report covering the work done by school services in New Zealand museums, said Mrs P. D. Hall, assistant education officer at the Dominion Museum. She added that many requests for information of this kind had been received from abroad. On the motion of the director of the Dominion Museum (Dr. R. A. Falla) it was decided to ask the incoming council to have a report prepared.