THE MUSEUM AS EXPERIENCE: LEARNING, CONNECTION, AND SHARED SPACE

Reflecting on the college museum that hosted the innovative learning and teaching experiences Heidt describes in his essay, he assesses the museum’s role in this way: “the … Museum saw itself as more than a repository for valuable artifacts where the learning was unidirectional, from object to person … . Instead, it saw itself as part of a dialogue, a space where ‘knowing was doing,’ where learning was relational, embodied, and alive … a space for participatory experiences where students encountered artwork and in doing so, encountered themselves.”
Reflecting on the role of the museum as a sanctuary of sorts for people living with dementia and their care partners, Ruhle views it through a lens of social justice and equity: “when museums prioritise this audience and offer opportunities for appropriate engagement and participation [read experience], the institutions make a public statement about the societal value of older adults and individuals with cognitive differences.”