As zoos have evolved from places of recreation to institutions whose primary mission is wildlife conservation, the role of interpreters teaching within zoos has expanded. Today, docents and other educators are frequently called upon to interpret more challenging and complex issues as they share this new vision of the zoo …
It might be the tell-tale giggles you hear rippling through the class as you travel from one point to another on your tour. It could be their quiet gasps as students round a comer and come face-to-face with a Rodin sculpture. Or, you may get a direct question from ;m …
Perhaps you’ve heard of a museum without walls. They do exist! BUT, what would you say about a museum without walls, roof, or even a floor? We’ve had just such a situation here in Santa Cruz, California, for several years now. Back in 1981, The Art Museum of Santa Cruz …
Twenty years ago, Title IX of the Education Amendments made sex discrimination in education illegal. Although Title IX has improved educational equity for women and girls, recent studies report that gender bias still exists and still limits choices for half of the school population. While not the primary educational institution …
Answering Tough Questions in Science George F. Smoot III, an astrophysicist at the University of California’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, recently made one of this century’s most important scientific discoveries. He and his research team uncovered the first evidence of the formation of primordial structures from the universe’s creation. Essentially, Smoot …
What do “Animal Rights,” “Bigfoot,” “Cannibalism Controversy,” “Genetic Engineering,” “Infanticide,” “Nazis, Evolutionary Program of,” “Social Darwinism,” and “Spiritualism” have in common? They are all entries in The Encyclopedia of Evolution by Richard Milner (New York: Facts on File, hic, 1990. p. 481). When people associate so many varied and inflammatory …
In preparing to write about I the interpretation of A slavery in museums, I came across a news clipping entitled, “Slavery: Museums Reveal Uncomfortable Truth of the Past.” The title alone struck several familiar chords associated with my own experience and that of the Museum’s staff in interpreting the sensitive …
Did Governor Tryon have slaves?” “What was the African-American experience in colonial North Carolina?” As recently as 1990, visitors to Tryon Palace, the reconstructed colonial capitol of North Carolina, learned only sketchy answers to these questions. The original Palace was completed in 1770 for William Tryon, colonial governor of North …
To avoid controversy in education is to avoid active, meaningful learning; it reduces education to propaganda or indoctrination. The process of coming to terms with tough issues allows youth to drop assumptions and look beneath the surface of things. Practice in making choices and forming reasoned opinions allows youth to …
Tough topics lie in wait. They are an inherent and ever-present risk when teaching with any institutional collection. Some can be anticipated; others just happen ╤ a combustible combination of issues, personalities, and happenstance. Tough topics by their very nature can prompt visitor reactions ranging from mild discomfort to outright …