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April 11 Event Will Focus on New Educational Idea, Museum Schools 
April 6, 2000 -- A new concept in schooling, museum schools, will be explored during a symposium Tuesday, April 11, at the University of Virginia. The Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design at U.Va.'s Curry School of Education will hold a symposium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 200 of Ruffner Hall to explore the idea of museum schools, which link the formal learning environment of a school with the informal learning experience associated with a museum. In museum schools the curriculum, instruction and assessment of students are aligned closely with a cultural institution. Some of these schools are housed on site at a museum; in other such schools students and teachers visit a museum on a regular basis. There is wide variety among the approximately 20 museum schools nationwide. During the symposium teachers and museum educators will describe instructional strategies, theme-focused curricula and collaborative learning environments that are distinctive to museum schools. Maria Marable, the museum school program director in the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, and a national leader in the field of museum schools, will describe the concept during the symposium. She will provide an overview of the museum school program and a local school district's partnership with the Smithsonian. Also at the symposium will be Dianne Moore-Williams, a third-grade teacher at the Brent Museum Elementary School, and Lesa Warrick, a resource teacher at the Stuart Hobson Middle School located in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. They will discuss how they use museum resources in the classroom to improve student achievement. They will also display samples of students' work. The event, co-sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design, the Bayly Art Museum and the Department of Leadership, Foundations and Policy in the Curry School, is open to the public, but space is limited to 30 people, and reservations are required. For reservations, contact Rebecca Borden, assistant director, Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design, at (804) 982-2866 or via rborden@virginia.edu. |
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