Needs Analysis

 

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is home to thousands of pieces of art from several cultures dating approximately 1300 BCE up to more contemporary time periods. The museum’s audience consists of people varying in age, interested in an educational experience with art history. The UMFA has a Mesoamerican exhibit containing several sculptures, as well as pieces of pottery. There are approximately 30 pieces in the Mesoamerican exhibit, which is permanently housed at UMFA.

 

UMFA reaches out to intergenerational families using exhibit backpacks. These backpacks offer engaging activities and curriculum to help interest multiple ages seeking brief art history education at the museum. The activities are meant to stimulate learners via kinesthetic methods. For example, the South Asian backpack has beads and string for the learner to make a take-home ankle bracelet because shivas donned similar bracelets. In the Egyptian backpack, the learner will find a “materials box” that contains various objects for the learner to explore as they move throughout the exhibit.

 

Currently, there is not a backpack to accompany the Mesoamerican exhibit. UMFA is seeking to add a Mesoamerican backpack to its permanent exhibit. The backpack and its contents will follow set guidelines of appropriate materials, and fit within a budget of $100 with an understanding there will be a small ongoing sustainable budget for take-home activities. The product will model what is already in place at the museum by having curriculum follow a theme. There will be 10-15 activites that draw the learner to examine art pieces in the collection and make observations, as well as synthesize knowledge. All activities will fit within the backpack without seeming bulky, or heavy. Any materials within the backpack will be “mess-free,” and not put the facility or the art at risk of damage.

 

The stakeholder and director over this project is Virginia Catherall, who is the Curator of Education, Family Programs, Visitor Experience, and Community Outreach for UMFA. In our first meeting with Virginia, we addressed a list of questions to ensure we understood the scope of the project and her expectations of us. We learned that we would be writing some of the curriculum for the exhibit activities, but would not need to worry about backpack assembly or procuring activity items that went with our curriculum. Given the popularity of the backpacks currently available for families to check out at the museum, she planned to use the same structure with the Mesoamerican backpack. Although the backpacks have been highly praised by users in the past, Virginia shared thoughts of reorganizing the backpacks to be less ambiguous and more user-friendly. Virginia also expressed that she would like to have 3-5 fully developed activities for the Mesoamerican backpack. She requested we come up with a theme for the backpack, as well.

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Learning objectives

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Intergenerational families will connect with ancient Mesoamerican cultures through interacting with the museum exhibit by:

• Identifying fabric from a traditional ‘huipil’ through their sense of touch.

• Understanding the cacao beans impact on these ancient cultures and experiencing Mexican chocolate themselves through their sense of taste.

• Discovering some of the animals that were important to these people by spotting them in Mesoamerican sculptures and art.

• Learning the similarities between ancient and modern instruments.

• Discovering some common scents enjoyed by the Mesoamerican peoples.

 

(Note: Since we followed the SAM1 instructional design model, our learning objectives came after we had identified a theme and already begun the design process. The learning objectives are in the Analysis section as more of a formality to adhere to the ADDIE model.)

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Design

 

Part of the design solution was to choose a theme for the backpacks. We proposed and discussed several themes, such as patterns and natural materials. As a group, along with the stakeholder, we decided to theme the Mesoamerican backpack curriculum around the five (basic) senses: taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing. A five-basic senses theme seemed the most engaging way to experience this ancient culture and interact with the Mesoamerican exhibit.

 

In generating design solutions, we followed a simple format. We came up with a timeline to follow then met once or twice a week to discuss the aspects of the project we needed to complete. Assignments were made and a direction was determined. Nearly every week, we sent an email to Virginia with the progress we had made on this project and seeking feedback from her. As our stakeholder, Virginia monitored our progress and corrected us as needed. We discovered the importance of keeping a stakeholder informed throughout the design process.

 

To effectively collaborate as a group comprised of members in different locations, we used a web-based editable document (Google Doc) as we worked to develop our ideas. We also kept group members updated through an ongoing group text. In addition to our shared document and text messages, we met multiple times using a remote video conferencing software, Zoom, in order to discuss the current issues of the project in real time.

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Development

 

Once activity ideas were brainstormed and selected, we began to develop the curriculum content. Virginia clarified that she would format and brand the curriculum to be consistent with the other backpack’s curriculum documents.The necessary supplies needed to accompany each activity are outlined in below. 

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Taste

• 2 Ziploc bags

• Enough mexican chocolate pieces for each learner

• Enough chiclets for each learner as an alternative treat

Smell

• Two cleaned out spice containers

• One cotton ball

• Cinnamon essential oil or small Cinnamon stick

• One piece of Copal resin

Touch

• Small box labeled “Material Box”

• Piece of fabric from huipil

Sight

• Envelope labeled “Red Decoder”

• Red Decoder tool (red cellophane with cardstock frame)

• Paper

• Pencil

• Crayons

Hearing

• Pencil or Crayons​