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Show General School Museum in Two Cities Proven Exceedingly Useful By L. V. COLEMAN, American Association of Museums. HVseums in schools consist usually of objects which have been brought in by the children. If this material is not kept too long, it may be used to great advantage, but practice has demonstrated over and over again that objects kept for long periods in the classroom or in the school become uninteresting and clog the wheels of progress. Therefore a permanent per-manent museum in a school is not to be desired. In two cities the school systems have established general school museums. mu-seums. In St. Louis there is such a museum which is working actively and effectively. Hundreds of thousands of objects are available to teachers teach-ers on call, and automobile trucks deliver them when needed. In Cleveland Cleve-land a similar though less ambitious plan is in operation. These projects have proven exceedingly useful. The typical school collection consists of perhaps a dozen objects in a carrying case and accompanied by descriptive matter. Experience has proved that for most purposes a few simple objects are much to be- preferred pre-ferred to many elaborate ones, and also that objects which may be handled han-dled by the pupils, or at least isolated and studied individually, are of greator effectiveness than a set of objects displayed in a portable case with even the best of arrangement and labeling. The collection may be accompanied by charts and photographs, by stereoscopes and lantern slides, or even by a motion-picture film. The greatest usefulness of such collections is in connection with nature study, art, history, geography, reading and composition. |
