Children as teachers in a museum: Growing their knowledge of an indigenous culture

This research paper reports on a study of preschool (3-4 years old) children acting as museum guides for their families. The research questions for the study were: how do young children as teachers engage their families in learning in the museum and how do families as learners respond to the children’s storytelling and explanations? The children in the study attend a kindergarten located in the national museum of Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. During an exhibition of indigenous (Māori) woven cloaks (korowai), the children constructed their own cloaks back at the kindergarten. The curator exhibited the children’s cloaks in the official korowai exhibition, and the children then began to act as docents for their families and the teachers. This research explored the knowledge and meaning-making acquired by the children and communicated by them to the visiting families and teachers. The study was an action research project in which university researchers worked alongside teachers, children and families. Children’s visits were observed and their conversations were recorded; teachers and parents were interviewed. Analysis of the data revealed the complexity of the children’s meaning-making and communication, the modelling of cultural practices that they had learned, together with their unique and personalised perspectives.