NABC

(Need, Approach, Benefits, Competition)

Need

Help parents and chaperones to become active and appropriate parts of the visual arts learning experience.

Approach

Our high-level solution areas are:

• Engage/involve adult/chaperone in activities within the art loft
• Better define adult/chaperone roles in the space
• Connect the art loft to the outside world

From the brainstorm, here are some things adults could be doing in the art loft.

We hope to implement as many of these as possible without conflict...

Reading 1.exploring art books 2.reading up on art history 3.researching importance on art and child development 4.reading about the san jose 5.reading about museum, transportation schedules 6.reading out loud, telling stories 7.reading literature for fun 8.reading about space 9.reading about purpose of space/ how space functions

Writing 1.suggesting new projects 2.evaluating new projects 3.writing guestbook (writing about how good a time they had) 4.planning how to extend activities 5.writing about importance of art 6.writing art critiques / suggesting improvements 7.sharing parental / chaperone tips 8.how does this museum compare to others

Contributing to the experience /helping the museum 1.preparing materials 2.managing music 3.planning how to extend activities to home or outside museum 4.managing what is displayed 5.creating slide shows 6.video taping / taking pictures 7.designing art projects / exhibits 8.helping with staff / helping children 9.auctioning work / voting 10.voting for art work to be displayed (external artists, children’s work)

Personal exploration 1.drawing 2.looking at other exhibits 3.taking pictures / video taping 4.looking at art 5.making art (jewelry, same projects as kids) 6.learning a new skill 7.designing a path through the museum 8.looking at / signing up for workshops 9.Competing against children / adult. Staff members of community 10.preparing to present their own work 11.observing past art 12.observing kids making art 13.watching tv, video 14.planning how to extending activities for themselves

Personal non-art things 1.talking with other parents (sharing parenting, chaperone tips, sharing specifics about museum) 2.dating 3.arranging play dates 4.trading babysitter info 5.playing games 6. surfing internet 7.designing path through museum, san jose 8.searching lunch places 9.looking at transportation 10.voting for work

Benefits

Kids

• By keeping the adults in the room we can give kids more exposure to the artwork, more time to learn
• By harnessing adults' potential prior knowledge of individual children, material and instructions are more likely to be understood
• Having an adult to each child or group of children allows the child to produce work and to function at a level above what they might otherwise (Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development).
• An adult provides continuity between the museum experience and home, making it more likely that the things learned in the loft will come up again later. For example, if the adult learns some of the project, they can discuss and continue it with the child later on.
• Extension of artistic practices to other aspects of life ( building creativity, risk taking, individual expression, self confidence, etc etc)
• Parents socializing with others encourages learning from others

Adults

• Adults have an opportunity to work with and better understand the child they are chaperoning.
• Adults will clearly understand their role in the art loft space and the benefits of that role to kids.

Museum

• Parents' aid in classroom environments creates a more productive learning environment and takes load off of the museum staff.

Artistic Community

• Helping young learners and their parents to understand the importance of art

Competition

Other parts of the museum do little to involve parents actively or indicate what is an appropriate level of involvement. Our design attempts to do both of these.

Competing areas within the museum:

• Art Loft is the essence of 'Discovery' place for children
• Offers dynamic, rotating projects and materials for children
• Encourages children to apply their knowledge and come up with a creative tangible artwork that they

can take home.

• Extension of learning: expand your learning opporunity with household materials
• This is a focused mentored experience unlike the other areas of the museum.

Other museums:

As opposed to the other nearby museums (e.g. Tech Museum, Exploratorium)that focus on the specific tools for discovery (science & technolgy), the art loft at the Children's Discovery Museums is more geared towards art as a process and the means of expression.

SF MOMA which is geared specifically towards art is neither interactive nor targeted towards children.

Art programs (after-school and at-school): The art loft has a wider range of participants and is therefore a more dynamic learning environment. It also requires minimal commitment since entrance and engagement in art activities here is spontaneous.

Do-it-yourself art books The art loft is a social, mentored, and interactive experience in a designated and appropriate space for learning.

Deb: This is very well thought out and grounded NABC. I can see you drawing upon the literature (e.g., Vygotsky) as well as observations you've made to the art loft. The approach ideas a sound and I appreciate the focus on ways to engage parents in the learning experience. I now suggest you think about ways to integrate your approach ideas into the physical space of the art loft. What changes to the physical environment or extension of the space (e.g., web) will you include in your redesign of the space? And how will you know that parent engagement will increase the learning experience for the parents as well as for the children? I look forward to watching your design ideas evolve. I also implore you to try out some scenarios of use to flesh out your ideas some more.