Progressive Museum Practice

John Dewey and Democracy

George E Hein

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315421834
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Preeminent museum education theorist George E. Hein explores the work, philosophy, and impact of educational reformer John Dewey and his importance for museums. Hein traces current practice in museum education to Dewey's early 20th-century ideas about education, democracy, and progress toward improving society, and in so doing provides a rare history of museum education as a profession. Giving special attention to the progressive individuals and institutions who followed Dewey in developing the foundations for the experiential learning that is considered best practice today, Hein demonstrates a parallel between contemporary theories about education and socio-political progress and, specifically, the significance of museums for sustaining and advancing a democratic society.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Educational Theory
• 2. John Dewey and Museums
• 3. Charles Willson Peale and the Birth of the Democratic Museum
• 4. Museum Education in the Progressive Era
• 5. John Dewey and Albert Barnes
• 6. Progressive Education in Art Museums
• 7. Museum Education in the 1960s
• 8. Progressive Museum Practice in the Twenty-first Century
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author