During the spring of 2017, I took a museum education class with Prof. Turdean, where we learned about interpretation, learning theory, and the implementation of educational strategies in the museum world. Ever since, I’ve paid more attention to how museum educators interpret information, and to the overall accessibility (both intellectually and physically) of exhibits.
Last Sunday, July 9, Zane and I went to the Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine in the Trocadéro area. My favorite gallery displayed huge, full-scale plaster castings of famous French monumental architecture from the Romanesque period of the 12th century through the 18th century. Most of these castings were made prior to 1900 and come from French public and religious buildings.
Right off the bat I was impressed by the castings from an educational viewpoint because they allow visitors to see details of features that may not be visible when they’re on the buildings themselves. There are also interpretive labels and plastic interpretative pages in numerous languages that further explained the features. Multiple computer screens are placed throughout the gallery that allowed the visiter to virtually maneuver through and around the building from which the feature came from. The mix of written word with full-size, 3D casts appeals to individuals who are strong in linguistic and spatial intelligence (Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory). In fact, a strong point for this gallery is its use of multiple intelligences.
The exhibit also appeals to bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, and logical-mathematical intelligences by including two build-it-yourself models of an arch and trusses. The stations consist of ordered, written instructions that correspond to numbers on each wooden piece. Parents can also easily facilitate younger children’s experiences by explaining directions and modeling how to complete the structure. A similar activity using these three intelligences is a puzzle meant to demonstrate how stained glass is assembled.
My favorite activity was an interactive game that required the visitor to help Viollet-le-Duc restore Notre Dame Cathedral. The game is interactive because it provides feedback to the visitor based off of how he or she plays the game. In addition to being a fun game, visitors learn about the structural aspects of buildings and how Notre Dame was modified by Viollet-le-Duc. This game also appeals to bodily-kinesthetic and spatial intelligences.
Another interesting part of the gallery was a table explaining the process of creating stained glass. The information was presented in three ways: written steps, 3D object steps, and a video of the stained glass process. This appealed to auditory and visual learners.
Overall, employing multiple interpretative techniques makes information more accessible to many types of learners. The museum educator(s) at the Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine did a great job of presenting information in many different ways, while still making learning enjoyable. I’ll be sure to file away these neat interpretive techniques and use them as models for other museum education work.