The theme of International Museum Day 2024 is "Museums for Education and Research", highlighting the critical role of cultural institutions in providing a holistic educational experience. At home and abroad, education has long been the primary purpose and function of museums, which began with the new definition of "museum" by the International Museum Association in 2007. Zheng Yi, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology of Fudan University and director of the Museum of Fudan University, has long been committed to museum education and research and has published a number of monographs.
On the occasion of International Museum Day, The Paper interviewed Dr. Zheng Yi on topics such as the development status and existing problems of museum education, and the current hot research trips. She mentioned that museums provide a unique "object-based education", which is a resource and advantage that other social educational institutions do not have; For museums, behind-the-scenes work such as collection and research is the foundation and premise, and the ultimate goal of its development is to enable museums to better play the role of public cultural services such as display and education in front of the stage, so as to serve a wider audience. Under the craze of research and study, many of the so-called "research tours" are not in the real sense, and the role of museums in them is still very limited.
The Paper: The theme of International Museum Day 2024 is "Museums for Education and Research", highlighting the critical role of cultural institutions in providing a holistic educational experience. What dimensions can we interpret it? What is the trend of museums?
Yi Zheng: This year is actually the first time in 33 years that the International Council of Museums (IMC) has included education and research as the theme of International Museum Day, to highlight the critical role of cultural institutions in providing a holistic educational experience. As two core functions, education and research are essential for the sustainable development of museums' public cultural services.
East Building of Shanghai Museum
It is worth mentioning that since 2020, the theme of International Museum Day every year has been a positive response to some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as ICOM looks forward to working with the United Nations to create a vibrant and hopeful world. In 2024, IBE's focus includes Goal 4: Quality Education – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Musée d'Orsay, France
At home and abroad, "education" has long been the primary purpose and function of museums, which began with the new definition of "museum" by the ICOM in 2007 and can also be seen from the revised definition in 2022. In addition, the 2015 Regulations on Museums, the first national regulation for China's museum industry, follow the same direction. In fact, museums are non-formal educational institutions compared to formal educational institutions such as primary and secondary schools, and they provide a unique, "object-based education" that other social educational institutions do not have.
At the same time, "research" has long existed as the primary purpose and function of museums. However, at present, the scientific research attributes and capabilities of mainland museums are not strong as a whole, which can be seen from the results of the national museum grading evaluation that began in 2008 and the subsequent operation evaluation. It is hoped that when engaging in scientific research, mainland museums can embrace more cooperation, open information, and serve the society and its development, rather than being completely confined to the cultural and museum circle or the interior of individual museums. For museums, behind-the-scenes work such as collection and research is the foundation and premise, and the ultimate goal of its development is to enable museums to better play the role of public cultural services such as display and education in front of the stage, so as to serve a wider audience.
The Paper: You started museum education and research more than 10 years ago, what was the opportunity at that time? In your book "Research on Museum Educational Activities", you mentioned some problems in the educational activities of museums in mainland China at that time, such as the "re-exhibition" and not "re-education" of mainland museums for a long time, the educational activities were limited to the single means of exhibition, the museum only attached importance to the educational activities of the audience, and the extensive management of museum educational activities. What is the current state of the museum's educational activities?
Yi Zheng: During my Ph.D., I went to the Department of Museology at George Washington University in the United States to study museum education, and did in-depth research at the Smithsonian Institution, the largest museum cluster in the United States and the world. This experience and harvest became an important part of my doctoral dissertation "Research on Museum Educational Activities: Planning and Implementation of Educational Activities in the Before, During and After Visitors Visit the Museum", and helped me to independently preside over the first provincial and ministerial project for the first time during my doctoral years, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage Project "Research on the Planning and Implementation of Educational Activities in the Before, During and After the Exhibition of Museums". Two years after graduating with my Ph.D., I published a monograph entitled "Research on Museum Educational Activities" and was fortunate to win three national awards.
Public education activities at the Smithsonian Institution in the United States
Of course, before I went to the United States to study, I studied curating with my mentor. That's why I've always adhered to the idea that museum education or educational activities are not isolated, but have to be based on exhibitions to develop a "combination of exhibition and education". In fact, most of the education is related to exhibitions to some extent, and the exhibitions themselves are the most typical educational products.
Australia is a "restaurant" in the children's gallery of the State Gallery of Victoria, built by a design duo.
In the past decade, the educational activities of mainland museums have developed greatly. In terms of quantity, in 2022, mainland museums will hold nearly 230,000 offline educational activities and launch more than 40,000 online educational activities. In terms of quality, we pay more and more attention to the planning and implementation of educational activities from the perspectives of focus, integration, and derivative, especially the integration dimension. Specifically, on the one hand, the development of the activity is not limited to the on-site visit stage of the audience, but also includes the two stages of pre-visit and post-visit, so the integrated planning and implementation are carried out from the perspective of three stages and from the breadth. Moreover, the three-stage activities are not only indispensable, but also need to be carried out in a gradual and targeted manner. On the other hand, a visit to a museum is the most basic and universal educational activity. Therefore, the "visitor stage" is the most important stage. Based on the theme, content and form of the exhibition, museums should carry out a series of extended and extended educational activities in depth, so as to fully grasp and effectively use the visitors' time in the museum to present them with a wonderful, memorable and meaningful museum journey.
The Paper: Among the topics of museum education, you pay special attention to "museums and primary and secondary education". Deepening the cooperation mechanism between museums and schools and creating a "second classroom" for youth education have also been advocated at the national level, what do you think is the practical significance of combining museums with primary and secondary education?
Zheng Yi: The international community has incorporated museums into the national education system, focusing on both school education and lifelong learning. In fact, the main connotation and requirements of the museum's inclusion in the national education system are: to serve the education of young people, focus on the compulsory education system, and effectively integrate into the teaching plan of primary and secondary schools. In view of this, the combination of museums and primary and secondary education is the top priority of integrating museums into the national education system, and has become a common behavior in developed countries of the museum industry.
Shanghai Natural History Museum (data map)
The significance and value of the combination of museums and primary and secondary education are reflected in many aspects, and there is a progressive relationship. First, the cooperation between the two sides can better provide information and knowledge to young people. On this basis, they collectively improve their abilities, such as information acquisition ability, communication ability, scientific and technological knowledge, critical thinking, problem-solving ability, creativity, cultural literacy, global awareness, etc. But the most important thing is to stimulate the emotions of the object, really ignite everyone's attitude and spirit, act on emotions, attitudes, values. That is to say, in the cooperation between the library and the school, and the combination of culture and education, it imperceptibly affects the ideological concepts, value judgments, and moral sentiments of primary and secondary school students, and moistens things silently into their emotional identity and behavioral habits.
Shanghai Planetarium
The Paper: As far as you know, how has the practice of museum-school cooperation been promoted in recent years? What are the obstacles?
Zheng Yi: Since 2008, mainland museums have been gradually and basically free of charge for minors, and it can be said that the mechanism for primary and secondary schools to use museums to learn is gradually taking shape, although the overall stage is still in the initial stage of development.
In fact, the integration of museums and primary and secondary education is not simply equivalent to museum-school cooperation, not limited to museums and schools, but covers the systematic engineering of the government, schools, museums, families, communities, etc. On the one hand, it must take "points" with "lines" and "faces"; On the other hand, it is "led" by the government, with museums, primary and secondary schools as the "main body", and especially the active "initiative" of venues. In a word, the cause is in dire need of "institutional design".
In the summer, the National Museum of China ushered in a peak of visitors
In terms of shortcomings, first, the per capita and per student occupancy of mainland museums needs to be expanded urgently. Second, special laws and regulations and plans need to be filled, and there is room for improvement in special policies. Third, the guarantee of special operating funds needs to be expanded and stabilized urgently. Fourth, the museum's education supply to primary and secondary schools needs to be normalized and equalized, and the content and form are single as a whole. These were some of the reasons I wrote my second monograph, "Integrating Museums and Primary and Secondary Education: A Study of Institutional Design", with a view to providing intellectual support for related practices, and I was fortunate to win three government awards in the field of "Pedagogy".
Shanghai Museum of Glass's public education project, lamp worker demonstration
The Paper: What do you think of the current "research fever" in cultural museums and the related problems it raises? Is it a new type of museum education practice under the new situation?
Zheng Yi: After the preliminary pilot, research trips are an important part of the mainland's future extracurricular education, a measure to implement the mainland's major cultural and educational policies and policies, and an opportunity for museums to further integrate with primary and secondary education.
"Study trip", also known as study trip, is an organized, planned and purposeful off-campus visit and experience practice activity in which students participate collectively. In addition, research trips have the characteristics of "two are not counted, two are counted". First, some after-school interest groups, club activities, chess competitions, campus culture, etc., which are arranged outside the school, do not meet the scope of study trips; Second, intentional organization. That is, educational activities that purposefully and consciously act on the physical and mental changes of students. If you go out for a walk on the weekend, it is not called a school trip; Third, group activities. That is, group activities are carried out by grade, class, and even school. Students are led by teachers or counselors to work together, experience and discuss with each other, which is a school trip. If the child follows the parents to a different place, it is just a tour; Fourth, experience it yourself. Students must have experiences, not just look and spin, but use their hands, brains, and mouths. Under certain circumstances, there should be opportunities for confrontation and escape drills, making some efforts, sweating, and even going through wind and rain and seeing the world.
Cultural and museum research
One of the big problems with these criteria is that many of what we think of as "study tours" are not really what they are. What's more, the role of museums is still very limited. However, there is no doubt that it is a new form of museum education activities in the new era, as well as a form of museum-school cooperation and the combination of culture and education. It is worth mentioning that the "Opinions of the Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on the Use of Museum Resources to Carry out Primary and Secondary Education and Teaching" issued in October 2020 has specifically listed the requirements of "improving the quality of museum research activities", including "local education departments should work with cultural relics departments to strengthen the overall management and supervision and guidance of museum research activities, develop a number of high-quality museum research routes and courses with distinctive characteristics, build a museum research resource network, and play a role in practical education." Museum research activities should pay attention to age-specific design". This undoubtedly provides conceptual and practical guidance for the current development of museum research practice.