Faculty and Teaching
Faculty and Teaching
Museum Studies Peer Editing Workshop with the collection objects in the Burton D. Morgan Gallery, February 23, 2012.
The College of Wooster Art Museum as a Teaching Resource
Student learning styles vary widely, from the aural and/or visual, to reading, writing and the kinesthetic. The College of Wooster Art Museum is an excellent on-campus teaching resource where Wooster faculty can explore a variety of options for using the museum as a site for active learning. Possibilities include bringing classes for a facilitated tour, requesting permanent collection materials for class use, developing an exhibition as part of a class, or participating as co-curators.
In addition to being uniquely equipped to move between disparate disciplines, utilizing the museum in teaching “. . . encourages the development of critical thinking and visual literacy by actively connecting art to all kinds of human experience within a social and historical context.” (Excerpt from the museum's mission statement.)
The Academic Art Museum: A Teaching Resource for Faculty
brochure (pdf)
Ways to use the CWAM as a teaching resource
Permanent Collections
- For use in object-based research
- Primary material for I.S. topics
- Faculty and/or student curated exhibitions
Class Tours and Visits
- Facilitated class tours
- For writing assignments
- Alternative location for class discussions
- Acquaint First-Year Seminars with a campus resource
Departments that have Participated in Museum/Course-Integrated Projects
- Art and Art History
- Chemistry
- English
- Geology
- Sociology/Anthropology
- Theatre and Dance
- Philosophy
Cross-disciplinary Projects
What faculty say about the CWAM and teaching
- My students are usually exposed to the expression of new ideas in the form of a written text. What is exciting about the exhibitions in The College of Wooster Art Museum is that the museum engages students with challenging ideas through creative and complex works of art. This helps students understand how to express themselves in different media and to break down disciplinary boundaries.
—Hank Kreuzman, Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement/Philosophy
- I like to bring my classes to the art museum when there is an appropriate exhibit—which is surprisingly often. Art constitutes an alternative channel for conveying information, and it's useful for everyone to have a break from all the auditory processing to see something so concrete and visual. The art, in a way, captures and externalizes other people's experience, so it provides my psychology students with insight into others' perspectives on a topic.
—Susan Clayton, Psychology
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Bodymaps brought a very personal, emotional aspect to the course topic. Instead of just an academic survey of HIV/AIDS, they could see, through the body maps, how AIDS affects individuals. I think it encouraged empathy, which I would have a difficult time teaching. It also made art very approachable, as the body maps were done by community members, and not trained artists.
—Amber Garcia, Psychology/Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
- I brought my students to the museum's exhibit on trees in January 2011, and was simply amazed at their response. In all seriousness, I could not have made the connections between the aesthetic appreciation, functionality, and environmental importance of trees in the classroom that the students were able to get from viewing and then journaling about the exhibit. And they said so themselves!
—Matthew Mariola, Environmental Studies and Sociology/Anthropology
How to arrange for collection use in teaching
To use permanent collection materials in a class, call or email Kitty McManus Zurko, Director/Curator, or Doug McGlumphy, Preparator, and describe what you are interested in and your preferred dates or time frame. They will search the collections, provide suggestions, and facilitate your class visit in the galleries.
How to arrange for class tours and visits
To arrange a facilitated class tour, call or email the museum staff to make arrangements. If you would like to have a class meet in the galleries without a tour, please let us know in case there is another scheduled class meeting at the same time. Also, museum staff facilitated tours are provided outside of the museum’s posted hours.
How to arrange a course-integrated project
This type of teaching support is usually planned at least a year in advance, and range from the selection and presentation of an exhibition that supports a theme or class, to course-integrated writing and student-curated projects. If you have an idea for a project or don't know where or how to start the process, contact Kitty to discuss your ideas.