| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺南藝術大學 === 博物館學研究所 === 94 === Abstract
In recent years, public museums in Taiwan have been placing great emphasis on their education facilities and services in order to fulfill their four main objectives, which are “collecting”, “researching”, “displaying” and “educating”. Many of these museums wish to encourage students to come for visits and utilize their rich resources. As a result, they welcome requests from schools and don’t charge admissions fee. Students are led and transported to the museum on a scheduled day and the teachers, upon arrival, meet with designated personnel from the museum staff and they collaborate to offer these students all available and planned services.
Through the writer’s investigation into the museum experiences of these student tour groups by interviewing and conversing with the teachers and leaders, this study endeavors to better understand and learn more about how children benefit from such museum activities. From the motivation behind such museum visits to the preliminary planning in preparation for the actual visit, from the selection of artifacts that would be viewed to the viewing route as well as the follow-up lessons or discussions that ensue after the museum visit, I hope to delve into the processes and sequences performed by these leader-teachers. Were these visits a success? Or were they a failure? What suggestions do they have? What can the museum improve upon, in terms of exhibitions or themes, so that we can better collaborate with these student groups and formulate the best possible tour for the children so that they might learn most effectively? There are five main issues which I would like to focus on:
What are the main objectives behind teacher’s decision to bring their students outside of the classroom and learn at an institution such as a museum?
What preparations must be made before the visit and how do teachers select learning themes or topics?
How would the teachers rate the content, the approach or the explanations available at the exhibitions?
Are there any difficulties when teachers are attempting to use the museum’s technological tools or learning aids? What suggestions do they have?
How satisfied are the teachers with the overall museum experience?
This study is composed of detailed and comprehensive interviews with the leader-teachers who bring these student tour groups and it is enhanced by the addition of sources and documents that pertain to such school excursions. Conclusions include, firstly, that usually these museum visits are paired with relevant classes in the school curriculum; secondly, that transportation is usually a cause for inefficiencies or problems; thirdly, even if the visit appointment calls for a rescheduling of class times, that doesn’t affect motivation; fourthly, “bronzes” and “ceramics” are the most popular topics selected by teachers; fifthly, teachers are extremely pleased with exhibition content and approach, but feel that explanatory texts may be strengthened; sixthly, teachers are happy with the museum’s tour guides, yet they hope for more touring personnel; seventhly, teachers are satisfied with their overall museum experience and shall plan to return. There are certain responses or suggestions the conductor of this study would like to make, first, reinforce the promotion of “National Palace Museum E-learning” digital educational courses; second, provide large interior spaces where students may rest or teachers may hold discussions after their visit or tour; third, establish an educational activity center so that students may be able to perform hands-on experiments and tasks; fourth and last, there could be an increase in the volume of technological and digital learning aids and educational tools in the exhibition areas.
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