The museum and childhood education

Abstract

The object of this thesis is to give the reader an outline of the way the museum through its facilities increases the learning opportunities of children. It is with this aim in view that I am endeavoring to show why Visual Education through the medium of the museum can greatly enhance ordinary teaching methods especially in the field of natural science. Since I am more concerned with the school child than with education for the general public little time or space is devoted to Public Museums of Science except in cases where they deal with the school and school children. A small section is devoted to the Museums in Canada with a view of pointing out the unequal facilities that exist for aiding the American and Canadian school child. Although Art Museums are mentioned by far the greater part of the thesis is concerned with the School and Children’s Museums, special attention being given to the Saint Louis Public School Museum and the Children’s Museums of Boston, Brooklyn and Detroit.