Remedying and Recurating the Museum Visit for Culture Learning in Multicultural Preschool Children

• In Event: Promoting Children’s Authentic Learning Through Multimodality, Creative Thinking, Block/Dramatic Play, and Museum Visit

Abstract

Cultural awareness is an essential 21st century skill to be developed in our children, as they need the ability to understand and respect other cultures and backgrounds. However, the direct teaching approach in schools may not be adequate to enable children to have a deep understanding of culture. An action research study was conducted with a kindergarten where their preschool children and teachers visited a museum. Through three cycles of action research, the study found that an intentionally curated museum visit is most effective for diverse children to learn about culture and make connections with their own lives. The findings indicate that schools should consider co-curating museum visits to enhance cultural awareness among both local and multicultural students.

Authors

• Wai Ming Cheung, University of Hong Kong

• Serene Chan, University of Hong Kong

• Hector W. H. Tsang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University