博物館在學習社會中的角色與實踐

The Role and Practice of Museum in a Learning Society

王啟祥

《科技博物》 5卷2期 (2001/03) Pp. 5-17

https://doi.org/10.6432/TMR.200103.0005

並列摘要

Museum, with its function and advantage in education, is indispensable to a developing and constructing lifelong learning society in the worldwide trend. However, to adapt the role and function in order to meet the trend is quite a challenging task. Therefore, it's essential to carry out a further study on how museum responds to the trend towards a developing learning society and makes it into practice by adapting the role and function. Hence, firstly, the thesis is trying to analyze the relations between museum and society as well as the significance of a learning society; secondly, synthesize the points of views of experts and scholars and induce the role of museum in a learning society. Furthermore, certain strategy of function and role implementation, as reference to policy, planning and practice for museum will be proposed.
Museum has interactive and symbiotic relation with society. In the global and current developing trend of a lifelong learning society, museum must realize the activity and passivity, which influence the change of the role and function. In addition thinking over on how to ”work with” the development of a learning society, museum has to consider a higher level on how to actively lead a learning society to be developed and followed out.
From the synthesis of the domestic experts' and scholars' points of view, it shows that although different scholars keep diverse points for the function and role of museum, they also have some ideas in common. Besides, according to the significance and features of a learning society, museum is supplier, which offers multi-learning and variety of learning opportunities as well as supporter of lifelong learning and promoter of self-directed learning. Museum is organizer and supplier of learning resources.
Based on the features of museum education, the thesis is proposing four strategies as reference for museum of adapting the role and function in response to a learning society.
Ⅰ. Establishing affective learning as a major target
Many scholars agree that the educational function of museum is to richly provide real objects as evidence. Its focus is put on the learning styles of self-direction and exploration. The
Main purpose is on enlightening and guiding, which emphasizes the audiences' learning interests and it should be enlightened and guided, so as to provide them forces of doing further studies in other formal educational institutions. The educational activities in museum are not teaching, but helping audiences to learn. It is a supportive and supplemental role, at the same time it's a kind of informal and nonformal education. Consequently, there are scholars believe in museum's education that it should focus on the development of affective learning. In a learning society, museum should pay more attention to build up audiences' learning confidence and independence and the objectives should be put on cultivating self-directed and learning ability for audiences. Ⅱ. Providing multi-learning styles as the means
How to draw out audiences' curiosity and increase their learning confidence, sensitivity as well as continuous learning interest, assist them to work on self-directed learning and cultivate learning ability and provide them the suitable learning styles are important key factors.
Studies found out that people tend to proceed learning through using different thinking orientations and styles, such as visual sense, hearing sense, hands-on activities, interpersonal interaction, touch, smell or reading. Besides, everyone has his/her
own learning style and which cannot be defined as good or bad. Discovering one's learning style and taking full advantage of it are the first important steps of cultivating one's lifelong learning ability and habit. If the teaching style is incompatible with one's main learning style, one will have learning difficulty and barrier and which will be a result of learning frustration and reduce one's learning interest.
According to Cassels' study, audiences' learning in museum can be categorized in four modes: imaginative mode, analytical mode, knowledgeable and problem solving mode and dynamic mode. Learning in museum is achieved through a series of process; as picture 1 shows. Museum should design different activities for audiences with different learning modes in order to reduce the control of fixed learning environment and promote one's self-directed learning.
(The form abridges)
Ⅲ. Multi-culture as main point of learning
Ideally, museum can provide the
Best opportunities of contact with different cultures and in tradition, museum also does well in using real objects to present cultures as well as provide audiences the opportunities for cultural appreciation and understanding. As Riegal said, many audiences go to museum for learning other cultures. In the minds of audiences, museum' qualifications in the preparation of recording and describing cultures are respected. As for the essence of cultures, museum is reliable sources. The features of the learning society are multifarious, open and equal. As a result, the content of one's lifelong learning also has to be multifarious. Museum should take full advantage of their strength in providing audiences learning multi-cultures.
Ⅳ. Becoming community lifelong learning resources centers
In order to implement the role of being an organizer and supplier of learning resources, museum can combine non-museum and community resources together. It must become a community lifelong learning resources center. In addition to the traditional methods of collecting books and documentary materials, museum also cooperates with universities, public/private organizations and enterprises through taking strategic alliance. Museum takes full advantage of non- museum manpower, instructors and book information so as to provide the public more multifarious learning opportunities and self-learning resources. It not only practices the function of coordination, provision and being intermediary of learning opportunities, but also takes advantage of computer/internet technology by putting learning resources on website and establishing on-line learning resources center, which supplies the public a learning environment without the limit of time and space.
Museum is products of human society. It has interactive and symbiotic relation with society. While human society is moving forward to a learning society, museum ought to change as well. Because of the rapid development of the idea of lifelong learning, works related to adult and lifelong learning are predicted to have more supports from the museum policies and funds in other countries. In Taiwan, there are still a lot to talks of how museum can support and practice the idea of constructing a lifelong learning society. According to the significance of lifelong learning society and the synthesis of experts' and scholars' points of view, museums should play the roles of providers of multifarious and multi-learning opportunities, supporters of lifelong learning, promoters of self-directed learning and organizers and providers of learning resources. In order to practice the function of the above roles, museum should set affective learning as their main educational goal, multi-learning styles as the means, multi-cultures as the learning points and work on becoming community lifelong learning resources centers.