Increasing U.S. Children and Families’ Understanding of Asian Cultures: A Final Report is a publication of the Association of Children’s Museums and authored by Selinda Research Associates, Inc.
© Copyright 2008 Association of Children’s Museums. All rights reserved.

ABSTRACT
The Freeman Foundation Asian Exhibit Initiative was administered by the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) and funded by The Freeman Foundation (Stowe, Vermont, and New York, New York). The Initiative developed seven traveling exhibitions, each depicting an Asian culture (Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, and Viet Namese). The exhibitions opened at their first venues in early 2004, and each traveled to at least 10 children’s museums across the United States over four years.

The Asian Exhibit Initiative research study investigated the impact of the Initiative on American children’s understanding of Asian cultures by examining the learning, interactivity, and audiences observed at Initiative exhibitions. The study found that children learned about unfamiliar Asian cultures through a variety of developmentally appropriate interactive engagements and types of play, and with the assistance of their caregivers. Exhibition audiences were much more diverse than the original target audience. Recommendations made to individual museums included the use of planning and evaluation tools such as development frameworks and play/knowledge hierarchies, samples of which are included in the report. Recommendations made to the Association of Children’s Museums focused on extending the multidimensional benefits of the Initiative both to museums planning cultural exhibitions and to the children’s museum field at large.

Increasing U.S. Children and Families’ Understanding of Asian Cultures: A Final Report can be downloaded in from the Members Only section of the ACM Web site. Members are not permitted to sell this report or provide a copy of the report to any second party without receiving written approval from ACM. Requests to provide a copy of the report to any non-ACM member must be made to ACM in writing. Please contact Korie Twiggs, ACM Education Officer with all requests and inquiries.

A PDF version of the publication is available for individuals and organizations that are not ACM members to purchase for $100. Members may purchase a hard copy of the publication for $35 (includes shipping for single copies). Contact ACM for details.

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