Learning at the Museum aims to increase learner confidence in cultural activities by making cultural spaces more accessible through workbook-based, supportive workshops.
Learning at the Museum is written at a grade 6-8 reading level, following Clear Language and Design principles and is geared toward adult learners who may experience barriers to learning.
Workshops are delivered by host organization staff and we provide free online training to help
prepare staff or volunteers to deliver the workshops.
The program is made up of three individual workshops:
- one pre-visit workshop to be held in the classroom
- one on-site workshop to be held at the museum
- and one post-visit workshop to be held in the classroom
An hour for each workshop, for a total of 3 hours of content is recommended. The program is highly flexible and can be adapted to suit shorter or longer schedules, depending on your learners’ needs.
Learning at the Museum is completely introductory so you don’t need to have a background in art, history or science to successfully deliver the workshops.
Download the Learning at the Museum workbooks:
- A Guide to Visiting Cultural Spaces
- A Guide to the New Brunswick Museum
- A Guide to the Canadian Museum of Nature
To host a workshop or to access online training, please contact Janet Mowat at jmowat@abclifeliteracy.ca.
Take our free online Learning at the Museum course, available on the ABC Skills Hub!
Get your FREE copy of the Learning at the Museum workbook
Sign up to receive the Learning at the Museum workbook. Once you have submitted your information, you will be automatically directed to a page where you can download the workbook.
Cultural Literacy in Canada
- Being culturally literate can help you understand, relate to and interact with people from diverse backgrounds that may be very different from your own. It can be especially important to be culturally literate if you are part of the dominant culture. Seeing, hearing and learning about how other people live can make you more culturally sensitive and aware. Learning about different cultures can open your mind to different ways of life (Flavell, H., Thackrah, R., & Hoffman, J. (2013). Developing Indigenous Australian cultural competence: A model for implementing Indigenous content into curricula. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability).
- Cultural literacy helps to develop a range of skills like communication and self-reflection (Flavell, H., Thackrah, R., & Hoffman, J. (2013). Developing Indigenous Australian cultural competence: A model for implementing Indigenous content into curricula. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability).
Testimonials
“To me, it is an educational experience and I learnt new things about myself and our history as Canadians. I think it was a fun and enjoyable experience to have with my classmates and was a new experience for all of us.” – Participant
“I learned about the different cultures that my classmates come from and how they view things, compared to my own perspective. This mainly happened when we went to the Nature Museum, and I saw how some people perspectives were different from my own.” – Participant
“The most beneficial thing I learnt from the field trips was the importance of learning our history as Canadians. I also learned that learning can be taught in a really fun way.” – Participant