Lex Fefegha’s Post

I am really amazed this is free! Awesome lineup of speakers and topics from the Smithsonian Institution for educators!! For my #sustainability educators and #GreenSchools, check out the following sessions you can attend virtually for free: 💚Educating for sustainable development: a teacher’s perspective 💚Inclusivity in environmental education 💚Environmental justice: leaders through community 💚Stories of women in STEM 💚Youth as agents of change in their community 💚Cross-content approaches to youth climate action

Children's museums often stand as the beacon for whole child, play-driven learning. The exploration, inquiry, freedom, and theory building that takes place within the wonders of children's exhibits in these museums is exactly what we educators hope to harness everyday in the classroom. The Association of Children's Museums quarterly magazine is available in digital format. While there are many worthwhile pieces of wisdom and ideas for educators in these pages, I especially like "Building Kids Agency through Play" and "Network to Promote Playful Learning" on pages 16 and 20. "In order for kids to fully enact their agency, they need to feel empowered and know that their thoughts, ideas, and feelings will be taken seriously." If only we could facilitate the engaged, trusting, playful, and deep learning environment of the children's museums in schools too........but wait, why can't we?

I love everything about this 37 second clip. There truly are no limits to what the human brain can achieve, and it’s exciting to think about the possibilities when we start empowering our youngest learners from the very beginning. 🌟 #EarlyEducation #LifelongLearning #HumanPotential

What makes a successful piece of public performance art? Grounded in theatre but branching into many other art forms, performance art has always been disruptive and unpredictable. Piece by Dr Marcos Dias, Assistant Professor in the School of Communications DCU Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, for RTE Brainstorm. 'Dublin was recently in the world's spotlight due to a misbehaving portal and its playful, entertaining, amusing and sometimes offending performances. The concept is simple but powerful: a video portal that connects citizens in Dublin and New York instantly through a real-time video feed. The project is an initiative of the Portals Project, founded by Benekditas Gylys, a self-described active angel-investor and successful entrepreneur-turned artist inspired by his journey of self-revelation in search of a more meaningful life and to bridge cultures from around the world, as stated in the project’s website.' 'The noble aim of the Portal contrasts sharply with the unexpected and transgressive events in Dublin recently, as described in media outlets around the world. On the 9th of May, the Irish Times described the enthusiastic engagement of passersby in Dublin as a sign of its success, with kisses and dance-offs and cartwheels being exchanged, but also pointing out how quickly it became transgressive: 'It took at least half an hour before a guy in a flannel top on the New York side gave the middle finger to the Dubliners, who repeated the gesture back at him enthusiastically.’ Other reported incidents such as episodes of "mooning", displaying swearwords, flashing various body parts’ and an instance of a Dublin user displaying a video of the 9/11 attacks in New York led to the Portal temporarily closing.' 'The concept of the Portal is grounded in several previous performance art projects. Back in 1980, artists Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz developed a Hole in Space, a live video feed displayed on large video screens in public spaces connecting the cities of Los Angeles and New York. At the time, reports described how passersby were mesmerised by this unique experience, with no mention of unruly episodes.' Read more here: launch.dcu.ie/454q7ff #RTEBrainstorm #DCUResearch #DublinCityUniversity DCU Alumni DCU Global DCU Business School DCU Faculty of Engineering and Computing DCU Faculty of Science and Health DCU Educational Trust DCU Research

Anyone can talk to kids about their art, but here are some helpful, open-ended questions to support their early learning and development in the process. 1️⃣ “Tell me about your art…” 2️⃣ “Where did you get your idea?” 3️⃣ “What is your favorite part?” Learn more about why these kinds of questions matter, AND how we bring promising practices in early childhood and museum education together in The cARTie Curriculum at www.cARTie.org. [Video Description: The text “3 Questions to Ask Children about their Art” is followed by three questions: “tell me about your art,” “where did you get your idea?,” and “what is your favorite part?” with a video of students working on a collaborative activity on the museum bus playing behind.]

Looove this article!

Thanks for sharing Sierra Van Ryck deGroot! This was such an important article from Stephanie Downey and Amanda Krantz (I can't believe it's been 2 years!) -- and we should be doing more to show the continued harm being done to museum educators as museum directors expect more & more from a smaller staff. The pressure for more visitors, more programs, new forms of engagement, new community partnerships, more events, etc. continues, yet museums have failed to hire the staff needed to support this growth (or pay museum educators the proper wage/salary for their expanded work). I'm seeing extreme burnout across the field, and so many incredible folks in education continue to leave museums for other jobs. No one is listening to them when they talk about their overwork and the urgent need to slow things down. And many are afraid to even mention their burnout for fear of being fired, looked upon as a failure, or even passed by when a rare promotion opportunity comes along. It is a crisis within museums that will far outlive the COVID pandemic. And the saddest part is that it doesn't have to be this way. Any museum can begin right now to listen to their educators, value the work being done and the people doing it, right-size the levels of programming and visitor engagement, prioritize the hiring of additional staff, and take steps today to address long-standing pay inequities. Change is possible, and we're the ones that can & must build a better future for museums.

Looking to elevate the quality of arts in your youth programming? Check out this new report with actionable ideas and considerations for leaders and practitioners

As members of the arts + creative community, we understand that arts education fosters innovation, critical thinking, emotional regulation, confidence and much more. As funding for arts + creative education declines worldwide, experts are concerned about what students and the world are losing in the process. #NationalArtsInEducationWeek #BecauseOfArtsEd #ArtsEdWeek https://loom.ly/IP5PduI

Tools to address different sensory differences in student visitors and varying audiences, highlighting the importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) within museums. Here is a downloadable resource offered by The Met. #museumeducation #MetropolitanMuseumofArt #MuseumOn #WIUMuseumStudies