Pilot implementation of a participatory Lesson Study model in assessing an educational toy design workshop in a museum: preliminary results

Abstract

The present study is structured on two levels and is conducted by the interdisciplinary collaboration of five researchers (a Museologist, three Pedagogists and a Theatre-educator). The first level concerns the pilot implementation of a one-day workshop for postgraduate students to produce educational toys in an informal setting (a museum). The second level of the study concerns the assessment of the workshop instruction in relation to its effectiveness in the production of educational toys by the students within the context of the museum as well as the improvement of the researchers` teaching practices and professional development. For this purpose, we used the Lesson Study model (LS), but to evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop we decided to actively involve the group of the postgraduate students in the reflection process of the workshop debriefing session by proposing a participatory approach. The analysis of the data is in progress and is expected to bring out valuable information concerning the effectiveness of our teaching practices and the improvement of the workshop for future applications in museum settings. Similarly, it is expected to highlight options in postgraduate students` learning experience, such as acquired knowledge, innovation and creativity by using museum objects to create educational toys, as well as social skills like collaboration and evidence of enjoyment. So far, we present our methodology, the workshop structure and preliminary thoughts and results concerning the workshop assessment.