The Newark Museum Experience

Reflections: The Newark Museum Experience

I just read an article in Newsweek titled, Danger! Mosquitoes! Sex! The picture accompanying the article shows a sultry looking female with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. The words surrounding the picture, “She may be…a bag of trouble…syphilis-gonorrhea,” are intended to send a message to the observer. Of course, the picture and title of the article caught my eye and I had to read the article. Interestingly, the article was about a collection of posters dating back to the 1900’s that were used to deliver public health information in the form of what we would call today a public service announcement. This collection, all part of an exhibit called, “An Iconography of Contagion”, is currently being shown at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The writer calls this collection not only art form but also history, politics, and medicine. After reading the article two thoughts came to mind. One, what a great experience this would be for students to view this collection in conjunction with a health unit on disease. Second, how could I use something similar to this in my classroom as an educational tool?

We have read numerous articles relating to the relevance of visual arts as a medium in education. I think that the Newsweek article about this exhibit and the power of visual arts to deliver a message, to educate, is a great example of this. This particular article also shows that the use of visual arts can help make a connection to various types of subject matter. We have learned that it important for students to know the “why”, why are we learning this, how is this relevant? The use of visual arts as a medium can be used to connect the learner to the why. I look forward to sharing this article with my students. I think that doing some type of activity related to this idea could be a great starting point for a unit.

What I am also learning as we do the various museum tours is that the use of visual arts can be a great tool for students to explore subject matter and create a learning experience for themselves. This can be in the form of inquiry based, project based, interdisciplinary, and/or cooperative. While this approach would not work for every unit, it is a good way to offer variation and address different learning styles. This experience shows yet another way to approach meeting the needs of all learners.