What do we mean by learning?

Learning is a process of active engagement with experience. It is what we do when we want to make sense of the world. It may involve the development or deepening of skills, knowledge, understanding, awareness, values, ideas and feelings, or an increase in the capacity to reflect. Effective learning leads to change, development and the desire to learn more.

The Campaign for Learning‘s definition of learning

Learning is about sharing stories about your heritage, inspiring others, passing on information, changing attitudes and creating understanding of new things. It comes in all shapes and sizes and depends on the capacity and resources you have at your disposal.

Types of learning

• Formal learning is planned activity designed for education providers from early years through to higher and further education.
• Informal learning includes our events and activities programme together with exhibitions. Our informal leaning offer is aimed for all ages and includes adult learning.

Types of activity

Activities should always be tailored to enable people to engage with and learn about your collections and the stories they tell. What you deliver can be wide ranging from:

• talks, guided tours, or workshops
• creating resources such as activity packs for visitors or toolkits for teachers
• object handling activities

What are the benefits?

The benefits of engaging people with your collections are broad from helping people to feel less socially isolated to deepening relationships between schools and museums, to increase levels of pupil attainment. Museum learning has the power to “inspire civic engagement, leading to personal, social and community benefit, and to the growth of our creative economy”. (Get It: the Power of Cultural Learning, 2009)