Blog

Posts related to: museums

ASTC 2010: Ho’okele – Navigating to our Future

By Greg Gallimore
October 21, 2010
STEM + Learning

The 2010 conference of the Association of Science and Technology Centers was held this year in Honolulu.  Ahhh…. Hawaii!  The beaches, the sunshine, the abundance of both single and double rainbows… sounds great, right?  With the particularly poor turnout of attendees this year, many folks I spoke to wondered how great this conference really was.  The exhibit hall was rather small with what seemed like a fraction of the exhibitors in past years, some sessions were spotty with attendees and there just weren’t the new faces and international showing that many were hoping would arrive.    

Putting these observations aside, in a way the conference was great. The educational sessions were quite informative, the special programs and receptions were well planned, and the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony was one of the most impactful and inspiring hour-long speech I may have ever experienced.  His name was Charles ‘Nainoa’ Thompson and he shared with the audience the story of the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s development and journeys to Tahiti and beyond using non-instrument wayfinding.  This was a story of excitement, joy, loss, discovery, and dismay; but ultimately a story of inspiration – a powerful affirmation of the importance of informal education.

Read more

Making History Honest

Clay Gish
By Clay Gish
May 12, 2010
Culture + Museums

“History is propaganda. Teaching is propaganda.” I once began an American History class with those statements. A room full of flustered undergraduates stared back at me in disbelief. Was I uttering sacrilege? As historians are all too aware, history is interpretation — interpretation often based on fragmentary evidence. Historians piece together those fragments as best they can to tell a story, but their interpretations of the past can be tinged by their own experiences, viewpoints, and social agenda. Yet history educators — whether in a classroom or in a museum — rarely let the public in on this. Too often, they present history as if it is the gospel truth handed down on stone tablets. I went on to tell my students that it was their responsibility to arm themselves with the best available information so they could cut through the crap and form well-reasoned interpretations of their own.

At the upcoming AAM conference (May 23-26), I’ll be taking part in a panel called “Breathing New Life into History.” While we’ll discuss how history museums can become more interactive and more engaging for visitors, I also intend to throw out there how museums can become more honest. 

Read more