History of education collections:

• 19^th Century: aesthetic appreciation a learnt experience
• Objects to inspire generations of makers
• Japanese prints, German posters, textiles, manuscripts, etc
• 1970s rise in teaching of art history and cultural studies

History of CSM Collections:

• Tell the story of CSM – acquisition budget for graduate work
• Support teaching and learning across the college
• Traditional audience: younger and older – passive learner
• CSM audience: proactive and challenging – actively learning through making
• From eccentric oddity to supportive resource
• Spaces important part of offer communication: light and ambience

20^th-century educational psychologists:

• John Dewey, Jean Piaget: learning as communal and democratic process
• Lev Vygotsky: learning constructed by the learner
• Brewer(?): interest and curiosity key motivations for learning
• David Kolb: education practice that prepares students for the world of work; abstract theoretic concepts more concrete
• Scott Paris: Object-centred learning
• Meaning of object: not intrinsic to the object, but rather a transaction between object and learner in a space that allows for meaningful construction

Frameworks for learning experience:

• Jules Prown: staged, forensic examination
• Abigail Housen: visual thinking strategies
• Eileen Hooper-Greenhill: museum community, individual and collaborative meaning making
• Showing objects in interdisciplinary way
• Transferable skills: communication, team working, research and analysis
• Multisensory: deeper learning experiences
• Haptic: handle and feel key for embodied experience
• Partnership with Academic Support: team teaching – challenge and compromise for innovative outcomes
• Objects as focal points for exploring learning awareness, meaning making and self-reflection
• Explore research practices, habits of mind and frames of reference

Workshops:

• Individual work based on a single object: questions that arise in their minds are analysed in categories (materials, hypotheses, storytelling)
• Prown method: description, deduction, hypothesis
• Collaborative meaning making: respect for difference

Response to the students

Community of practice to explore new methodologies and share experiences

Challenges:

• Decolonising white Western collections
• White staff