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19 - Creativity in Children’s Museums

from Part IV - Environments and Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Garrett J. Jaeger  and
Helen Hadani
Edited by
Sandra W. Russ ,
Jessica D. Hoffmann  and
James C. Kaufman
Sandra W. Russ
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
Jessica D. Hoffmann
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
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Summary

Children’s museums attract millions of families every year, providing opportunities for learning through play and for developing children’s creativity. Many of these museums actively collaborate with local communities, educators, and researchers to help improve the experiences of visitors. What makes such informal learning environments unique is how the facilitators, and the exhibits themselves, are mostly designed to provide children with an experience of guided discovery. Children actively engage with the exhibits by tinkering with materials and testing hypotheses about what will happen next, and develop creativity by interpreting novel experiences and solving discovered problems. Some museums go so far as to develop curricula and programs that explicitly promote the creativity of children. Collaborations with academic researchers influence approaches to encouraging creativity, while also evaluating the impacts of museum exhibits and programs.

Keywords

informal learningcreativityplayearly childhoodchildren's museum
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Lifespan Development of Creativity , pp. 415 - 441
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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