1st Edition
International Thinking on Children in Museums A Sociocultural View of Practice
Section I The Conceptualization of Childhood and Sociocultural Theory
Chapter 1 Conceptualizing Childhood
Chapter 2 The Museum as a Cultural Institution
Sociocultural Theory: Influences on Museum Experiences for Children
Section II Research Perspectives from the Field
Chapter 3 Connecting Young Children’s Learning Processes with Art Museum Practices
Louisa Penfold, United Kingdom
Chapter 4 Young Children and Cultural Citizenship in Australia
Barbara Piscitelli, Australia
Section III Case Studies on Children and Museums
Chapter 5 From Tool to Process: On Learning in Swedish Museums
Göran Björnberg, Sweden
Chapter 6 Play Africa: Disrupting with Children in Johannesburg, South Africa
Gretchen Wilson-Prangley, South Africa
Chapter 7 Early Learners in Lebanese Archaeology and Art Museums: A Sociocultural Case-Study
Nelly Abboud, Lebanon
Chapter 8 Developing Programs for Young Children at the National Museum of China
Patricia Rodewald and Jing Zhao
Chapter 9 Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center: A Gathering Place Where East Meets West
Loretta Yajima
Chapter 10 Inspiring Young Children in Museums: The Smithsonian Institution, Leading the Way
Sharon E. Shaffer
Chapter 11 A Case for Early Learning in Peruvian Museums
Maria del Carmen Cossu and Irene Velaochaga
Chapter 12 Discovering World Cultures through Chester Beatty’s Collections for Primary Schools
Jenny Siung, Ireland
Section IV Museum Practices in a Global Society
Chapter 13 Making Sense of International Perspectives on Children in Museums
Biography
Sharon E. Shaffer is recognized as a national and international leader in early learning in museums. As an independent consultant, she collaborates with traditional museums, children’s museums, and schools in their efforts to imagine and reimagine meaningful ways to engage children in learning about their world and themselves. She draws on her many years of experience in the field, including her tenure as the Founding Director for the Smithsonian Institution’s model lab school in Washington, DC, where she established a signature program of learning for the Institution. In recognition of her pioneering work, Shaffer received The Secretary’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service from the Smithsonian – the only educator with this distinction – for creating a national model in museum-based learning for young children. Shaffer teaches for The University of Virginia and publishes regularly. She was the guest editor for the Journal of Museum Education (Spring 2012), "Early Learning: A National Conversation." The success of her first book, Engaging Young Children in Museums (2015), now translated into Chinese and Greek, led to a second, Object Lessons and Early Learning (2018). Her second text explores the power of objects in learning, children’s curiosity about the world, and their natural affinity to collect.
