Wednesday 6 May 2015

NEW Resource: Make museums your own

'Make museums your own' resource was one of the outcomes of the Family Literacy Project funded by 26TEN

The NEW resource added to the site is a short animation and 4 page downloadable PDF for museum workers and teachers to show to families considering visiting a museum.

You can find it under the Resources tab. It was one of the legacies of the ‘Family literacy’ research project supported by Mission Australia and funds from 26TEN grant (from Skills Tasmania, a business unit of the Department of Education). The resource content was based on the experiences of the nine families who participated in the ‘Family literacy’project from Mission Australia Language and Literacy classes and the Hobart Women’s Shelter. Some families arrived in Australia as refugees or from the mainland whilst others were born and bred here in Tasmania. Families visited the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery or the Museum of Old and New Art.

The project hoped to help make better family literacy programs and museum exhibitions for everyone and not just for those who regularly visit. Literacy these days is more than reading a book, as important as that can be. Adults and children use technology, solve problems and communicate with each other in their day-to-day literacy practices. Many family members in this Project had never visited a museum before and it was clear that some of the things museum workers know about museums was not so clear to them. Nevertheless everyone brought their own literacy skills and experiences into the museum and art gallery mix.

The 26TEN grant supported doctoral research for the University of Technology Sydney and was primarily for materials, equipment and other costs to the research and participants. Families gave their time freely and generously. This research is yet to be completed but hopefully you can make use of the Resource.



No comments:

Post a Comment