The HRC thanks Laurie Pasteryak for serving as guest author for the following entry. Laurie has held several positions in the fields of history, archaeology, and education, working with the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA, the USS Constitution Museum in Charlestown, MA, and as the Director of Education at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT.  Currently, Laurie is working as a consultant with the Mashantucket Pequot Museum on the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program--Battlefields of the Pequot War Project.

Does either of these situations seem familiar in your museum?

• Mother, reading a label, "Wow, son, look at this - this baby carriage is from over 200 years ago, and they even put a fake baby in it!" Her 8-year old son, jumping up to look, "Mom, I can't see! It's too high!" Trying to read the label and the Don't Touch sign, he asks, "What does ju-ve-niiiiile mean...and why can't I touch it?"

• As two older adults and their grandchildren are on a guided tour, the children start whining because the tour has gone on longer than expected. The grandfather looks over to his wife and says, "It's too long for me, too. There's no place to sit in this whole darn museum!"

In 2004, the USS Constitution Museum in Charlestown, Massachusetts, embarked on the Family Learning Project, a three year endeavor funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This research project explored the best ways to communicate the museum's content to a wider audience, primarily family groups, using effective, low-cost exhibit techniques.

Realizing that other history museums were also struggling to reach a family audience, the USS Constitution Museum created the Family Learning Forum, a resource Web site dedicated to museum professionals exploring family learning, where many of the tools, resources, and findings from the Family Learning Project are available for all to explore at no cost.

With the spotlight on families, the USS Constitution Museum spent an extraordinary amount of time learning to understand this group's special needs. The museum went through several stages of audience and exhibit evaluation, assessment and prototypes during the development of a new exhibition, A Sailor's Life for Me?. The most valuable lesson learned: museums, large and small alike, can easily discover what works and what doesn't work - simply by asking, listening to and learning from their visitors.

The Family Learning Forum Web site presents easy-to-understand examples, brief articles, numerous conference presentations, models of audience evaluation and assessment techniques, sample evaluation forms and much, much more.

The findings shared and discussions on the Family Learning Forum are not only for the benefit museums looking to expand their family audience, nor are they for history museums only. As a fellow museum professional who has worked in the field for several years, I feel confident saying that these resources should be must-reads for anyone creating exhibitions or for those who wish to gain a better understanding of their general audience. I highly recommend checking the site out before you explore developing your next exhibition!

Some of my personal favorite resources in the Family Learning Forum:

• The Sailors Speak Exhibit Floorplan: a bird's eye view allowing you to select a specific exhibit element and read its "evaluation and prototype story." Find out what worked, what didn't, how and when to change, and when to give up!

• Steal This Idea: a collection of simple, cheap and effective exhibition techniques that you could apply at your own institution with a tweak of the historic content.

• Building Prototypes: learn how to try out a new exhibit element to determine if it will work, before you spend thousands of dollars on a beautiful new feature that people don't understand, or don't even like.

• The Engaging Text section, most specifically Writing for a Family Audience and Layering Information; an eye opener for curators; just for fun, try writing a label in 50 words or less!

• And finally, the Forum itself, a new interactive element launched in October 2009, that gives museum professionals a place to discuss, comment and ask questions about the family museum experience, such as public programming and exhibit how-to's.

The USS Constitution Museum's three year endeavor turned into a bigger project than anticipated, and the process of finding answers much more rewarding. The Family Learning Project has guided museum leadership to enact a new strategy where the museum aims to provide a hands-on, minds-on environment where intergenerational groups seeking an enjoyable, educational experience can have fun and learn as they explore history together. Today, the USS Constitution Museum's Family Learning Project continues with support of another IMLS 21st Century Museum Professionals grant to help history museums Engage Families through exhibitions and programs.

Make sure you revisit the Family Learning Forum Web site often as it is frequently being updated with new presentations, articles and the promise of 100 successful family programs posted by 2011 - and don't forget to check if a USS Constitution Museum Family Learning Workshop is coming soon to a town near you!