The Museum School’s core values are not just words recited to prospective parents. They are character traits expected of faculty, staff, parents and students alike, and they are woven into our everyday practices and into the curriculum.
Our curriculum is designed to help students develop responsibility for their own learning. With teachers as guides, children make their own inquiries and then experiment, observe and investigate.
Every child learns differently, and we respect that. Rather than present a fixed curriculum that may not be appropriate for all students, the museum school model integrates a myriad of learning styles and presents lessons appropriate for each student. Students learn respect through direct experience and real-world challenges. Long-term collaborative projects provide them the exposure and real-life opportunity to learn cooperative skills and respect for others.
Though students form individual learning goals and plans, they also undertake group projects that require cooperation. The creation of museum exhibits spans several weeks and requires the coordinated effort of an entire class. Additionally, Everyday Mathematics employs cooperative learning and small-group instruction on a daily basis.
The Museum School is dedicated to principles of sustainability – the idea that a balance exists between meeting the needs of the present and ensuring the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Our students study and participate in environmentally sound processes throughout the school, such as recycling, energy conservation and waste reduction.
In addition, our curriculum emphasizes sustainability, particularly with learning institutions that focus on natural science or history. The curriculum at The Museum School is interdisciplinary by design to help children see that seemingly isolated facts and events are interconnected.
Our students have an opportunity to use creativity at every step of the learning process. Students identify their own problems to solve and questions to answer, teachers encourage risk-taking and innovation in guiding students’ explorations and investigations, and learning culminates in the creation of a tool for sharing knowledge with others.
Being kind is a vital way of making our own lives, and the lives of others, meaningful and positive. This generosity of spirit comes alive when we give of ourselves to help others without expecting anything in return. At The Museum School, we know that concern for others is contagious: Charitable words and acts lead to new displays of kindness, perpetuating a culture of tenderness and concern for others. Every day, we see our students engage in acts of kindness toward one another, and these acts are recognized, rewarded and encouraged. Our students know that when they are kind, they brighten someone’s day and bring out the best in themselves.