In the previous theme we spoke about the museum communication and gave a lot of examples about education as important element of the good communication with the museum public.

Here – in the theme 2 – we will present some details and examples about the museum education in its 3 variants: – formal /classical, traditional/, non/informal /actual, additional / and mixed education.

The formal education is the most popular variant of education. All of us have deep experience in it from our childhood in school and after that - in the university. The typical elements of the formal education are: definite place and time; definite program; constant teacher/lecturer; evaluation with exams and marks – from poor to excellent; concrete content of every lesson – in the context of the certain yearly program; certain methodic and didactic etc. Usually every school lesson or seminar has the aim – to present the scientific and objective truth and after that the pupils to remember it. Usually this truth is one, or with some variants. The expected positive result of formal learning and teaching methodology is to be obtained new information in a way it had been interpreted by the teacher/lecturer.

This is only a short description of the classical formal education. It has a lot of elements and, of course it is the most important education, but not the only one. Without giving more details about it – here we describe it as a part of the museum education. The formal learning can be implemented in the museum education, though it is not the most typical for it.

The museum education use variety of non/informal methods, as well and we will present them below, but let’s start with some comments about the contemporary education in general.

The contemporary education is a wide territory. It is an object of a thousand discussions in all over the world. One of the main questions of discussions is – “what are the expected results of the good contemporary education and how they can be achieved?” The answers are thousands. It depends on the concrete educational aims, on the national educational strategies, on the mentality of the people etc. But as a whole – the experts in education and the governments want to have well qualified specialists, ready to work effectively and obtaining not only knowledge, but skills, as well. It means to have good and contemporary information and to able to implement it for practical results. It means that the well educated people should be able to think in advance, to rearrange the known information into new knowledge and to apply it in new ideas, projects and practical activities. It is not an easy task. In the 21^st century – and in the period of crises – the good education should be an active combination between theory and practice; between classical/formal and contemporary/non/informal approaches, that help people to be creative and innovative.

The education, by definition is more or less conservative system. Conservatism is part of its identity. That’s why it should not be changed very often, because it will lose its good traditions and methodic. But, from above mentioned point of view, this system should obtain new elements, or to be supplemented by other educational activities, that can give innovative and more individual and practically oriented style.

Without more details it means that there should be a lot of supplementary forms of education that can add necessary actuality to the traditional classical education. This is the so called non/informal education, mentioned above.

It appears in the world educational practice in the last 20 years as a result of the social needs. People and experts in education explored the educational resources in everyday life and found that they are much more than the offered in school. It is real fact, that if someone wants to learn more – he is able to do it quite everywhere – at home, by medias and books, by traditions and nature, by cultural heritage, using the products of the cultural industries, practicing sport, driving the car, using ICTs etc. Around us there are a lot of learning recourses.

Here are some more details about the non/informal education.

First of all the non/informal education*/There are some differences between the terms nonformal and informal education, but here we will use the 2 terms in their similarity – as one and the same. It is an additional education. It can’t substitute the formal school education, can only expend it, as it was mentioned in the previous chapter.

The main characteristics of the non/informal education are: free choice of place and time for learning; non mandatory content – as a part of a definite school program; different teaching and learning methods used, visualization and authenticity; no evaluation with marks, deep motivation for participation; practical elements incorporated in the process; encouraging the personal activity; encouraging active thinking and innovative approaches/personal point of view; no constant truths “of a last instance”; more teachers/educators or self-education approach; encouraging the discussions and dialogue; encouraging the artistic or other personal talents; mental and practical creativity and experience; incorporated emotions and creativity; mental provocations; nontraditional analogues and link between facts; new approaches in explanation of the traditional knowledge; mental reconstructions, puzzles, games etc.

It is impossible to enumerate all characteristics of the non/informal education. This is not our aim. Here we list them only to show the difference between it and the formal/classical education. Our aim is to explain and proof that the museum education is closer to non/informal education - nevertheless it incorporates classical elements as well.

Let’s have an example to see the difference between the formal lesson in museum and non/informal museum one.

For instance - if school teacher decides to organize history lesson about local Christmas traditions - in the ethnographical hall of the city historical museum – he will get in touch with the museum curator or museum pedagogue. Together they can select suitable part of the exposition, where children can see all artifacts, connected with “Local Christmas Traditions”, shown and explained in the museum showcases. The both educators can select the educational content, presented in the school program/textbook and can enlarge and visualize the necessary school content. The children can look, listen, ask questions and even touch some exhibits. This is a classical formal school lesson, organized in museum.

The typical non/informal museum lesson – it is something different. For the same theme “Local Christmas Traditions” – the museum lesson, or better to say museum educational program should have different elements and will use different methods.

The children, the teacher and the museum pedagogue will work together again. They can be in the same museum ethnographic hall, but the children will not only listen and look. They will be prepared about their participation in advance. May be a month before they will receive different personal tasks – to read something additional about the Christmas celebrations, to find pictures not only from the local, but for the foreign Christmas traditions; to make a model of a Christmas tree and to decorate with traditional ornamentations; to prepare small traditional gifts for the friend/classmate, or family; to find and learn some old songs, stories or poems for the Christmas celebration etc. It means that the museum lesson/educational program demands preparation from every participant in advance. This preparation includes not only new knowledge, but activities in the preferred creative sphere – science, music, poetry, theater, photography, drawing etc. All this activities should be included in the small scenario for preliminary organization of the program. The participation of everyone is necessary.

The scenario contains also: museum curator’s presentation and explanation for the museum artifacts, kept in the cases; maybe small drama – presented from the children, or from professionals; maybe authentic folklore music, films, storytelling etc. All depends on the age of the pupils and of their interests and willingness for creative expression. In addition to it – the non/informal museum lesson may include traditional cousin, exchange of family Christmas recipes etc. The positive emotions and good temper/mood are obligatory also. As we mentioned before – the entertainment is important element of the museum communication and museum education.

Generally it means that there will be a lot of action, active learning and self manifestation. The content of this program, taken only for example shows that the above described elements of the non/informal education present in it. The non/informal elements based on the cultural heritage /material and nonmaterial/ give better educational results.

This example demonstrates the distinction between the two types of educative museum methods – formal and non/informal. There are a lot of examples for the same in the museums. You can find some in the following links:

Classical formal lessons, held in the museum

Money Museum and the Lincoln Penny - YouTube

Part 1 Janet Martorello teaching a class on Uncial Calligraphy at the International Printing Museum - YouTube

Lessons from the History of Labour - Kim Sattler of the National Museum of Labour - YouTube

Interactive Non/informal museum lessons

Early 1900s School Maths Lesson - YouTube

Demo Drama Class @ the NYS Museum - YouTube

If you have seen the examples, you are already sure that the non/informal education, implemented in the museums is not chaotic and only intuitive activity. It is well planned, well prepared, has its pedagogical aims, use the professional methodic and didactic instruments and is done by well educated specialists. The scientific discipline, called “Museum Pedagogy” is a part of the Museology and it has a great development last decades. The reason is that the non/informal educational practices gain a big popularity and they are often implemented in the museums. In connection with this fact we are not able to explain all elements of the non/informal education as a whole, or in the museums. But the above texts and examples give you an idea about the non/informal museum education in comparison with the classical formal learning and teaching process, realized in the museum hall.

Some more examples you can see here:

2011 HOT TICKET FEATURE: Children's Museum of Virginia - YouTube

www.polytechnicmuseum.org

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛНИ ПРОГРАМИ - Регионален Исторически Музей - Пловдив

In the beginning of the theme we defined 3 main museum education methods. The third one is the mixture of the first and the second – i.e. formal and non/informal methods are used together in one and the same museum educational program. The criteria about mixed usage of the both methods are the acceptance of the public and the effectiveness of the educational process. Usually mixed methods are the most frequently used, because the museum education aims not only obtaining new knowledge, but upbringing as well. Important are not only the facts, but what can be done with them and how they can be transformed and recognized as a part of human behavior, live style, standards of thinking and social activity. The museum education uses all possible methods to fulfill the bigger aims that it fixes. This aims are connected with the development of every person and with the development of the group and society also.