This research examines how museum educational programming can adhere to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in order to facilitate schools’ visits to museums. Methodology includes interviews with education professionals and analysis of scholarly articles, case studies, and books. Also discussed are the standard’s principal goals and implications, and evaluate how they impact museum educational programming. This study compares the objectives and procedures of the de Young Museum’s Get Smart with Art program and the Walt Disney Family Museum’s School Experiences to those of the CCSS in order to assess how each program can comply with the standards.

1. Common Core State Standards:
Many Paths to Museum Educational
Competency
Alexa Beaman
Museum Studies Graduate Student
University of San Francisco

3. Contact
Alexa Beaman
AlexaBeaman@gmail.com
Studies Graduate Student
of San Francisco

4. 1. Abstract
This research examines how museum educational programming can adhere to the
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in order to facilitate schools’ visits to museums.
It discusses the standard’s principal goals and implications, and evaluates how they
impact museum educational programming. This study compares the objectives and
procedures of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s (comprised of the de Young
museum and Legion of Honor) Get Smart with Art program and Walt Disney Family
Museum’s School Experiences to those of the CCSS in order to assess how each
program can comply with the standards. Museum educational theories and
programming, including Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), Bloom’s Taxonomy, and The
Contextual Model of Learning in fact align with the objectives of the CCSS, making the
task of updating educational programming relatively straightforward. This research will
assist museum professionals in adapting or creating new programming that adheres to
the CCSS at their respective institutions. In turn, by clearly instating and outlining CCSS
educational objectives in their programming, museums will position teachers to appeal
for budget approval for museum visits for their students.

5. 2. Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
• The CCSS are a component of new national standards for K-12 education in the
United States.
• Individual states may voluntarily adopt the CCSS, but 43 out of 50 states have
already done so. States may customize the standards to fit their specific goals
for students.
• The CCSS comprise of Speaking and Listening, Language, Reading:
Literature/Informational Texts/Foundational Skills, Writing, Language, Math, and
Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects.
• The CCSS differ from past educational standards because their goals,
methodology, and structure are distinct. The CCSS set the goal that students
should acquire literacy across different subjects via an inquiry-based, student-centered,
and active approach to learning.
• Where before teachers lectured to students, students are now engaged as active
participants in their learning experience. They are enlisted to effectively lead,
facilitate, and participate in discussions and to go beyond solely ascertaining and
relaying facts.
• The CCSS imply that K-12 teachers must adhere to the standards in all aspects
of K-12 curriculum, including schools’ field trips to museums.
• Museum educators can apply the Speaking and Listening standards to in-gallery
activities, and the remaining standards to pre and post-visit museum activities.

6. 3. Museum Educational Theory and Programming
• Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the Contextual
Model of Learning are museum educational theories and programming
examples that share similarities with CCSS’ goals, defining characteristics,
and methodology because they position individuals as active learners at the
center of engagement and learning.
• Museum educators can reference and utilize these theories and methods in
designing/implementing CCSS compliant educational programs.

7. 3a. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)
• VTS is an inquiry-based approach to learning developed by Philip
Yenawine and Abigail Housen that allows educators to teach students
visual literacy through art interpretation.
• VTS permits students to effectively learn through student led discussions,
question and answer, listening, and group collaboration.
• VTS’ student learning outcomes correspond to the CCSS’ desired student
learning outcomes because when teachers use VTS, student participation
increases and students develop critical thinking, problem solving and
discussion skills.

8. 3b. Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Bloom’s Taxonomy, developed by Dr. Benjamin Bloom in 1956, is a
framework for how to ask questions in a way that effectively engages
students’ thinking abilities.
• Bloom’s is composed of successive question levels. The question
categories are ordered from least difficult to most difficult, implying that
students will accomplish one category before they move onto the next
category.
• Students build cognitive skills by advancing to new levels when they answer
questions.
• Bloom’s methodology is similar to the goals of the CCSS in that it is utilized
to promote thinking as opposed to fact memorization.

10. 3c. Contextual Model of Learning
• The Contextual Model of Learning developed by John Falk and Lynn
Dierking explains how visitors learn and make meaning in museums.
• In this model learning is dynamic, continuous, and draws from
individuals’ personal, socio-cultural, and physical contexts, blending and
developing over an individual’s lifetime.
• The CCSS’ goals and the Contextual Model of Learning’s central ideas
overlap because students are now positioned at the center of learning.
• Museum educators can reference this model when conceptualizing and
creating educational programming.

12. 4. Case Study: Walt Disney Family Museum
• Museum Educators applied Bloom’s Taxonomy and active learning
theories to School Experiences, a student engagement program for 1st
through 12th grade students, in order to adhere to the CCSS.
• School Experiences include a one-hour gallery tour and one-hour
hands-on animation workshop.
• Active learning theories correspond to the CCSS because individuals
consciously command their learning through active participation with
materials and subject matter. Active Learning activities such as “Think,
Pare, Share,” “Jigsaw,” and “Find Your Spot” helped to actively engage
students in their own learning experience.
• Museum educators can utilize Bloom’s Taxonomy and active learning
theories when creating and implementing educational programming in
order to adhere to the CCSS.

13. 5. Case Study: The Fine Arts Museums of San
Francisco’s Get Smart with Art
• As a School and Teacher Programs Intern at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Summer, 2014),
the author aligned the Museums’ K-12 educational curriculum Get Smart with Art (GSWA) to the CCSS.
• GSWA is an innovative curriculum consisting of pre and post-visit museum activities that are specifically
designed for each grade level in accordance with California’s history curriculum.
• Through the use of objects represented in the museum collection, students learn visual literacy and critical
thinking skills while learning to appreciate art.
• The GSWA pre and post-visit museum activities call for students to actively participate in their learning
experience through methods such as VTS and open-ended inquiry as well as reading and writing
activities.
• The author studied the CCSS and the museums’ K-12 curriculum in order to align the curriculum to the
standards. She created a one page document that outlined which standards were covered in the
curriculum. This document was placed into each grades’ GSWA curriculum binder so that teachers could
easily access and interpret alignment.
• The museums’ K-12 curriculum already adhered to the CCSS on many levels, and thus the task of
updating the curriculum to align to the standards was straightforward.  For example, teachers use VTS
with students, covering many of the Speaking and Listening Standards. The curriculum’s reading and
writing activities cover many of the CCSS’ reading and writing standards.
• As an added component to this project, the author also suggested curriculum that would enhance the
museums’ programming to better align to the standards.
•  For example, the curriculum’s writing prompts could call for students to write all three different types of
texts outlined in the standards- writing informative/explanatory texts, narratives, and opinion pieces-instead
of one or two of the same types.
•  Also, curriculum could call for more advanced writing, discussion, presentation, and research activities
in order to better align with the standards.

14. A Teaching Artist uses open-ended inquiry with students at the Legion of Honor
as part of the Get Smart with Art program.

15. 6. Conclusion
Because the CCSS and museum educational theory and programming embrace
similar methodologies and objectives, museum educators are able to seamlessly
apply its approach to new and existing programs. This research provides a
framework for museum professionals who seek to integrate these national
standards into museum educational programming. For fellow museum educators
interested in aligning their programming to the CCSS, the author recommends the
approach she utilized at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, with the
implementation of a teachers’ council in order to review and suggest changes for
refined alignment.

16. References
• Ben Sanders, (Director of Standards, Assessment and Instruction at California Education Partners) in
discussion with author November 2013.
• California Common Core State Standards, California State Board of Education, adopted August 2010 and
modified March 2013, http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf.
• Clark, Don. Big Dog and Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition, "Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains."
Last modified May 01, 2013. Accessed November 2, 2013.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html.
• Common Core State Standards Initiative, "Frequently Asked Questions: Overview." Accessed October 2,
2013. http://www.corestandards.org/resources/frequently-asked-questions.
• Common Core State Standards Initiative, "In the States." Accessed November 1, 2013.
http://www.corestandards.org/in-the-states.
• Falk, J. H. and L. D. Dierking. (2004). Learning from museums: visitors and the making of meaning. (Walnut
Creek, CA: AltaMira), Chapter 1.
• Kim Haynes, (Free-lance Education Consultant) in discussion with the author, October 2013.
• Middendorf, Joan and Kalish, Alan. “The ‘Change-Up’ in Lectures.” The National Teaching and Learning
Forum 5, no. 2, (1996): 1-12.
• Shari Tishman, “Learning in Museums,” in Harvard Graduate School of Education, Usable Knowledge,
accessed September 30, 2013, http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/learning/LD21.html.
• Yenawine, Philip. Visual Thinking Strategies. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press, 2013.