Why do people go to museums and what do they learn there? What roles can museums serve in a learning community? How can museums facilitate more effective learning experiences? John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking investigate these questions in Learning from Museums. Synthesizing theories and research from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, education, anthropology, neuroscience and museum research, Falk and Dierking explain the nature and process of learning as it occurs within the museum context and provides advice on how museums can create better learning environments. Visit the authors' web page

Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning (American Association for State and Local History)

Falk, John H.

Dierking, Lynn D.

Reference

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

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Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions

In Thriving in the Knowledge Age, John Falk and Beverly Sheppard argue that museums require a radically new business model to survive the transition into the knowledge age. Only by shifting towards more personalized and community-based learning experiences can museums reverse the declining attendance figures of the twenty-first century. Written to provide clear answers to fundamental questions about the purpose and goals of the museum of the future, this visionary book is a must-have for museum professionals and trustees.

Sheppard, Beverly K.

AltaMira Press

In Thriving in the Knowledge Age, John Falk and Beverly Sheppard argue that museums require a radically new business model to survive the transition into the knowledge age. Only by shifting towards more personalized and community-based learning experiences can museums reverse the declining attendance figures of the twenty-first century. Written to provide clear answers to fundamental questions about the purpose and goals of the museum of the future, this visionary book is a must-have for museum professionals and trustees.

The Museum Experience

The Museum Experience is the first book to take the "visitor's eye view" of the museum visit. It integrates the authors' original research with that from a wide variety of disciplines as well as museum and visitor studies ranging from science centers and zoos to art and natural history museums. Written in clear, non-technical style, The Museum Experience gives museum professionals a thorough introduction to what is known about why people go to museums, what they do there, and what they learn. This book is an essential reference for all museum professionals concerned with communicating with the public. It has been used widely for college coursed in the United States, Canada and the UK, and has been translated into Japanese, and Chinese.

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Routledge

Learning from Museums (American Association for State and Local History)

This is the second edition of John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking’s ground-breaking book, Learning from Museums. While the book still focuses on why, how, what, when, and with whom, people learn from their museum experiences, the authors further investigate the extension of museums beyond their walls and the changing perceptions of the roles that museums increasingly play in the 21st century with respect to the publics they serve (and those they would like to serve). This new edition offers an updated and synthesized version of the Contextual Model of Learning, as well as the latest advances in free-choice learning research, theory and practice, in order to provide readers a highly readable and informative understanding of the personal, sociocultural and physical dimensions of the museum experience. Falk and Dierking also fill in gaps in the 1st edition. Falk’s research focuses increasingly on the self-related needs that museums meet, and these findings enhance the personal context chapter. Dierking’s work delves deeply into the macro-sociocultural dimensions of learning, a topic not discussed in the sociocultural chapter in the first edition. Emphasizing the importance of time (and space), the second edition adds an entirely new chapter to describe the important dimension of time. They also insert findings from the burgeoning field of neuroscience. Latter chapters of the book discuss the evolving role of museums in the rapidly changing Information /Learning Society of the 21st century. New examples and suggestions highlight the ways that the new understandings of learning can help museum practitioners reinvent how museums can and should support the public’s lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning.

In the second edition of their 2000 book, John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking offer an updated version of the Contextual Model of Learning, as well as present the latest advances in museum research, theory, and practice in order to provide readers an inside view of how and why people learn from their museum experiences.

The Value of Museums: Enhancing Societal Well-Being

Review\nThe Value of Museums is a game changer for cultural institutions looking to measure the importance of their work. The ability to quantify the value of well-being generated by museums could be transformative for the entire sector. John Falk’s latest work is a gift to museums and underscores their importance to the communities they serve. -- Trevor Jones, director and CEO of History Nebraska\nIn The Value of Museums John Falk explores lucidly and profoundly our motivations to visit museums. His model of enhanced well-being is rooted in human evolution and backed up by evidence from contemporary visitor interviews. A delightful read, the book offers not only a holistic interpretation of museums’ ultimate impact, but also a much-needed practical tool to measure and demonstrate it. It is truly invaluable – or should I say: genuinely valuable – for the entire field and decision-makers. 
-- Mikko Myllykoski, CEO, Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre\nThe more I read the book, the more it makes sense to me, why museums are so inspiring and can capture the heart and soul of millions of people every year. 
-- Ganigar Chen, vice president, National Science Museum Thailand\nJohn Falk builds upon his decades-long exploration of visitor motivations, delving deeply into defining the multiple dimensions of ‘well being’ as the foundation for museums to create value and to make a compelling case for support. The Value of Museums provides actionable approaches for museums to foster well-being for their visitors at a time when people and communities need safety, inspiration, creativity, and connection more than ever -- and when museums must demonstrate their value in new ways in order to ensure sustainability. 
-- Lori Fogarty, director and CEO, Oakland Museum of California\nWritten by one of the world’s leading authorities on the public use of museums, The Value of Museums: Enhancing Societal Well-Being provides a timely and compelling way for museum professionals to better understand and explain the benefits created by museum experiences. The key insight this book advances is that museum experiences successfully support a major driver of human behavior – the desire for enhanced well-being. Knowingly or not, the business of museums has always been to support and enhance the public’s personal, intellectual, social and physical well-being. Over the years, museums have excelled at this task, as evidenced by the almost indelible memories museum experiences engender. People report that museum experiences make them feel better about themselves, more informed, happier, healthier and more enriched; all outcomes directly related to enhanced well-being. Historically, benefits such as enhanced well-being were seen as vague and intangible, but Falk shows that enhanced well-being, when properly conceptualized, can not only be defined and measured, but also can be monetized.\nHowever, as many in the museum world are painfully aware, what worked yesterday for museums may not work in the future as recessions and pandemics rapidly alter the landscape. Although insights about past experiences are interesting, what is needed now is a roadmap for the future. Fortunately for museums, the public’s need for enhanced well-being will not be disappearing any time soon; enhanced well-being is now, and will always be, a fundamental and on-going human need. What has and will change, though, is how people choose to satisfy their well-being-related needs. The Value of Museums provides tangible suggestions for how museum professionals can build on their legacy of success at supporting the public’s well-being, adapting to changing times, and remaining relevant and sustainable in the future.

Here’s a fun way to get young minds discovering the wonders of the natural world by making predictions, testing them, and then evaluating the results—learning the scientific method. These short, bite-sized, deliciously fun activities like "Sounds of Chewing," "Clinks in the Kitchen," "Tangy Tongue," and "Shoe Show" take only 15 minutes to organize, do, and clean up. Many of the activities involve food, so children will learn and get a snack at the same time.

Bite-Sized Science: Activities for Children in 15 Minutes or Less

Children's Books

Rosenberg, Kristi S.

Science, Nature & How It Works

Chicago Review Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Falk, John H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Falk, John H.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Falk, John H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning (American Association for State and Local History)

Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning (American Association for State and Local History)

Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions

Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions

The Museum Experience

The Museum Experience

Learning from Museums (American Association for State and Local History)

Learning from Museums (American Association for State and Local History)

The Value of Museums: Enhancing Societal Well-Being

Bite-Sized Science: Activities for Children in 15 Minutes or Less