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variety of ways, not only for what the designers had in mind, but also for other very specific kinds of learning. My initial interest in learning about museums and museum pedagogy occurred before I had the faintest inkling that I might become concerned with starting a science museum myself. These few examples of some of the different kind of things that can happen are indeed far from exhaustive even in my own experiences. In each instance that I have described I extended my knowledge or thinking by connecting aspects of a museum with previous experiences, with my fantasy world, or with things that were happening in school. Most of the processes described above were more or less solitary adventures. But the most common form of learning in museums comes about when people go there with friends or relatives and teach each other. Recently I was taken by a friend to the Dumbarton Oaks Museum of pre-Columbian Art in Washington, D.C. I had not even known of the existence of that place, but my friend was a great enthusiast and very knowledgeable of pre-Columbian art in both Peru and Mexico. She used the exquisite exhibits to tell me much about the meaning of the artifacts and about their origin, age and the various people represented. She became very much my teacher, although eventually it became a time of discovery for both of us, and we would point things out to each other. Later, the same day, we went to the National Gallery and looked at the Italian and Spanish paintings. There I was initially the expert and the teacher, and in this instance as well, eventually teacher and pupil begin to change place through observations and conversations. I have given these examples to show that even for me, museum learning can assume many different forms; for others their uses extend even further. I have also told of ways in which one can become involved with the objects in museums even without touching them. Certainly, although the Exploratorium is one of the most wonderfully participatory environments imaginable, I nevertheless want to emphasize that it is important not to be too | doctrinaire about "hands-on". The important requirement is that museum pedagogy be taken seriously. In most of the places that I have been, the curators could have done more than they have, yet I was pleased, for example, to see in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a room in which there were four hunting still life paintings with pheasants and other objects laid out on the table. A sign asked: "Three of these paintings were done in one century and the fourth in a different century; can you tell which one was done in the different century?" I looked at the painting a little harder than I might otherwise have done because of their sign. By reading the answer that they provided I saw even more about the paintings than I had discovered all by myself. In most instances, I find that the labels in both art museums and science museums are too minimal. I was pleased to observe that the National Gallery now has a box in each room with a ream of single sheet discussions about the paintings in that room. One can pick up such a paper and wander around with it. Certainly there must be many techniques suitable for every type of museum which could greatly improve their pedagogy. But even as they are, I find that museums can be extraordinarily fine places for learning, for tying together things that have been learned and for providing an intuitive or experiential background which promotes and facilitates subsequent learning. I have also found that working at, or more accurately living at, the Exploratorium I observe a most rewarding and unexpected array of ways in which the place provides opportunities for teaching and learning. A large number of the children that come to the Exploratorium on field trips bring either their friends or their families back at some time. When they do, it is a delight to watch and overhear them serving as guides, as they select one exhibit after another that they obviously have remembered from their school visit. When high school or college students who are taking a course in science come to the Exploratorium with their friends or parents, they also invariably use the Exploratorium to become the teachers of their companions. Parents are likewise able to use their special | ||