Association of Children's Museums

Download The 21st Century Learner Symposium Report

The 21st Century Learner Symposium, held September 18-19, 2003, brought together representatives from the museum, library, public television, early learning and lifelong learning communities to encourage the development or strengthening of local learning collaborations. Attendees to the symposium were encouraged to attend in teams of community partners (e.g. a representative from each field -- museums, libraries, and public broadcasting).

The two-day, research-based symposium brought the work of scholars, community partners, and national associations together to connect early learning to the creation of a lifelong learner. The symposium was part of a larger campaign being developed by the convening partners and others in the early learning arena that is intended to move toward the creation of a lifelong learning community beginning at birth. The symposium follows a professional learning continuum that was launched with a conference in 2001 by IMLS and may lead to future symposia and conferences on lifelong learning. The symposium's panels, keynotes, and discussions explored how national organizations can work together to encourage local learning collaborations by encouraging professionals from varied fields to share resources, research on learning and case studies of how local partners can build lifelong learning communities nationwide.

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One of the goals of The 21st Century Learner: The Contiuum Begins With Early Learning symposium was to provide a forum for museums, libraries, public television stations and others to collaborate on community-based programs that would raise awareness of early learning in the continuum of lifelong learning among these groups across the country.

In September 2004, ACM announced the winners of the Community Collaboration Awards, which were open to groups that participated at the Symposium. Winners included a local early learning symposium in Appleton, Wisconsin; a kindergarden preparation project in Lincoln, Nebraska; and a science literacy project in Virginia Beach, Virginia.The award recipients received $5,000 grants and serve as national models for how museums, libraries, public broadcasters and others can join forces to build lifelong learning communities.