Progressive Museum Education: Examples from the 1960s

Overview & Synopsis

The combination of pedagogy and political aims, a constant theme in the progressive school education literature, is reflected as well in the history of museum education. Museum educators, following the lead of John Dewey, advocated for experiential pedagogy, a natural course for museums since they emphasize learning from objects and experiences rather than through lecture and text. But progressive museum educators also embraced the socio-political goals of progressive education. This was evident in the growing field of museum education during the progressive era, and, more recently in the history of the San Francisco Exploratorium and the Boston Children's Museum, institutions that had close ideological and personal connections with progressive educators in the 1960s and 1970s.