“Learning: A Family Affair”
A Family Learning Roundtable Presentation by Minda Borun
June 14, 2005
Presentation Outline
Formal Learning is Classroom Based
- Students are uniform in age
- Teacher leads
- Formal arrangement
- Tests
- Certification process
Informal Learning is in the Museum
- Wide age range
- Group access
- Flexible arrangement
- Voluntary
- Repeatable
Informal Learning is a Family Affair
- The family is a multi-generational unit with a learning agenda.
7 Characteristics of Family-Friendly Exhibits
- Multi-sided: family can cluster around exhibit
- Multi-user: interaction allows for several sets of hands and bodies
- Accessible: comfortably used by children and adults
- Multi-outcome: observation and interaction are sufficiently complex to foster group discussion
- Multi-modal: appeals to different learning styles and levels of knowledge
- Readable: text is arranged in easily-understood segments
- Relevant: provides cognitive links to visitor's existing knowledge and experience
