Short description:

The Routledge Handbook of Museum and Heritage Education is a practical reference guide that shows how museums, galleries and heritage sites can offer opportunities for successful visitor engagement.

Long description:

The Routledge Handbook of Museum and Heritage Education is a practical reference guide that shows how museums, galleries and heritage sites can offer opportunities for successful visitor engagement.

Defining museums as all cultural sites that interpret collections and spaces for public education, understanding and enjoyment, this volume argues that museum education has a central role in the development of policies, practices, and research for engagement. Including contributions from experts across the globe, the volume shows how these sites can continue to offer unique opportunities for social, physical, emotional, and academic engagement that are much needed to inform and empower museum visitors internationally. It also demonstrates how museums, galleries and heritage sites can be utilised for the betterment and sustainability of our world and the societies we live in. Combining rich theory with innovative practice, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of museum and heritage education today.

The Routledge Handbook of Museum and Heritage Education will be of interest to academics, students and professionals who are based in the fields of Museum Education, Heritage, Adult and Community Education, Cultural Studies, Social Studies, Psychology and Tourism.

Table of Contents:

List of contributors; SECTION ONE : Setting the context: museum and heritage education ? a force for change ? 1.Defending Museum Education; 2.The Rise of a Profession - Museum Education: From Enlightenment to Empowerment; 3. Philosophical Perspectives on the Educational Dimensions of Museums; 4. Who Pays the Piper and Who Calls the Tune?; 5. Museums as Pillars of the Establishment or Agents of Change: Smithsonian initiatives; 6.Decolonisation: what does it mean for museum education?; 7.Empowering Museum Educators: achieving equity, inclusion, and professional recognition; SECTION TWO: Theory and experience in museum education: pedagogies in practice ? 8. Pedestals or Portals? An exploration of representations of museums and museum learning in and through children?s literature; 9. Into the History in Open-Air Museums; 10. Connecting Children to Art and Cultural Heritage; 11. Time and Place: sites of memory and the sense of history; 12. Embracing the Untouchable: strategies for engaging learners with intangible heritage; 13. Uncovering the Authentic Unknown: the place of mystery in museum education ?archaeological museums; 14. Speaking Visual ? the Importance of Visual Literacy in Art Museum Education; 15. Making sense of Scotland - Creative use of Scotland?s Historic Environment as a National Resource to Support Learning and Inclusion; 16. Light after Loss: the role of museum and heritage education in guiding grief and nurturing empathy; SECTION THREE: A virtuous circle: the role of research in museum and heritage education ? 17. Science Centres and Museums: public laboratories for studying free-choice/informal science learning; 18. Evidence-based Museum Education; 19. Staging Climate: art, nature, culture in the production of knowledge in the museum; 20. Facilitating Object-based Learning Through Digital Touch Replicas when Collections are Untouchable; 21. Archival Institutions as Laboritaries for Change; 22. Engagement and Education at the Barbados Museum & Historical Society: a praxis for sustainability; 23. Changing Minds: how intergroup contact through participatory arts can improve dementia care; SECTION 4: Open doors, open minds: nurturing museum accessibility and inclusivity for a more democratic model ? 24.  Engaging Everyone ?Participation as a Means and an End within Museum Education and Practice; 25. Young adults (age 18-30) as a specific target group within cultural institutions ? practice considerations for curators of education; 26. Reaching out: changing the visitor social dynamic; 27 Policies and Practices of Museum Education and Social Inclusion - the Case of Egyptian Museums; 28. Memorial sites as catalysts for healing and hope: confronting and interpreting difficult and traumatic history for formal learning purposes; 29. Here and Queer: an evolving Practice of LGBTQ+ Heritage Engagement in the UK; 30. Getting to know you ? facilitating visitor identity and relatability in Mexican museums; SECTION FIVE: Future-proofing: how museum education can take a more forward-looking stance ? 31. Museum Education, Activist Pedagogies, and Forced Migration: or, how can museum education change the world?; 32. Culture and Connectivity: how digital is shaping the future of museum education (with a note of caution); 33. Building Nuance: using museum education to move away from black-and-white thinking in India; 34. Unlocking Industrial Heritage Meanings and Legacies for the Post-industrial Generations; 35. Telling Another Tale: feminist pedagogical strategies toward a sense of agency; 36. Racial Hauntings: enfigurement in the modern South African museum; 37. Shaping a Reinvigorated Cultural Landscape: exploring museum education practices and perspectives in the Middle East; 38. What Next? museum and heritage education, and sustainable development; Index.