Author: lyusiyao

• Project Type: Professional Project with TOSEE ART EDUCATION
• Project Location: Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
• My Role in the Team: Project Leader & Manager / Main Content Contributor
• Team Members: Xiu Yao, Keying Chen, Xinyue Wang, Yu Wang, etc

This was a museum education project developed in collaboration with Nanjing Museum. The project was consisted of two major parts:

One was a Gallery Teaching Project including four customized gallery explorations (with detailed lesson plans, gallery teaching demonstrations, family brochures, gallery teaching slides) and art-making workshops based on the museum collection, as well as a teacher training program, an education framework presentation, and two tutorial videos of the workshops.

Me leading gallery experiences at Nanjing Museum. Photo by Nanjing Museum.

Brochures for the families to use in the gallery exploration. Copyright reserved.

The workshop packages for the families to use in the art-making workshops. Copyright reserved.

Online teacher training by Siyao on September, 2020. Stills of training video by Siyao.

The other one was a School Lesson Project including fifteen art lessons (with detailed lesson plans, student-used templates, teaching slides) designed based on both the museum collection and the principles of the Jiangsu primary school art textbooks.

This school lesson project ‘Welcome to My Museum!’ has been selected as the 2020 Museum Education Demonstration Projects of Jiangsu Province (江苏省博物馆教育示范项目名单， 江苏省文物局颁发).

The project was designed to introduce Chinese art history from the Neolithic time to Modern China in a systematic way through the fifteen lessons across the semester. Meanwhile, the lessons incorporated the local history and culture into the demonstration of the objects to enhance students’ confidence in their local culture.

In all fifteen lessons, students would use specially designed templates with games, creative tasks, and explanations of certain jargons to aid their learning experience.

Preview of the learning templates for students’ use in this project. Copyright reserved.

Preview of the slides for the lessons in this project. Copyright reserved.

During the semester, students would visit Nanjing Museum and see those objects they have been learning in the classrooms by their own eyes. They would explore the galleries following the instructions on their templates and complete fun treasure hunt tasks. Students would also learn about the architectural fun facts about the historical buildings in the museum courtyard.

Local primary school students are exploring the galleries during their field trip to the museum. Photo credit to Nanjing Museum.

• Project Type: Professional Project with TOSEE ART EDUCATION
• Project Location: Dunhuang Museum, Dunhuang, Gansu, China
• My Role in the Team: Project Leader / Main Content Contributor/ Gallery Teacher
• Team Member: Qian Chen, Xiu Yao, Keying Chen

This was a gallery teaching project developed to introduce the culture and history of Dunhuang to young audiences using the historical artifacts on display in the Dunhuang Museum. The project was designed based on Object-Based Learning theory and executed based on Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS).

Siyao teaching about the ancient post office (置，zhì) in Dunhuang through models and teaching about Han dynasty stone carvings to the parents audiences. Photo by Xiu Yao.

The project led the learners to discover fun historical facts about Dunhuang through closely observing more than eight cultural objects that were representative of their specific time periods. Learners were encouraged to examine objects through archeological lenses while learning gradually about the tools, methods, and perspectives used by archeologists in China.

Introducing Luoyang Shovel (洛阳铲), an archeological tool used by Chinese archeologists. Photo by Xiu Yao.

Learners also got the chance to recognize and play the ancient scores of Dunhuang using technological tools such as the Garage Band on iPad while experiencing the ancient Dunhuang culture through listening to the music they played.

Using technology to learn about ancient music. Stills from video by Xiu Yao.

During the gallery experience, learners used a customized learning brochure to record what they have learned at any time as well as to creatively respond to specific artifacts by drawing and designing.

Using brochure to enhance learning experiences in the gallery. Photo by Keying Chen.Brochure copyright reserved.

The project also encouraged the learners to generate their own perspectives on culture and history through discussions in the gallery.

Discussion in the gallery. Photo by Tian.