“[Museum] educators facilitate experiences ... that become part of our students’ consciousness and emotional memory. Avoiding the facilitation of a negative memory is the ultimate goal” (p. ix). With this in mind, Morton-Winter (John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) intends this book for museum educators seeking to better connect their visitors with the museum experience. Significantly, chapter 3 provides an “A–Z toolkit” of activities, customizable to engage “any visitor” at “any museum” (p. 33). This generalization means that it is up to readers to determine how to modify the activity for specific visitors at their unique museum. For example, children, people with differing abilities, or people with differing language skills will likely not have the same experience with each activity. Also important, places like art museums and war memorial museums are very different and can obviously evoke different experiences, understandings, and emotions. Yet, the toolkit contains tried and true activities like "Think-Pair-Share," versions of which have been fruitfully applied with adolescents after visits to terrorism museums. Carefully curated, activities offered in this book can create museum experiences that live on in positive memories of visitors. Highly recommended. Graduate students through faculty; professionals.

Choice Reviews

Ames Morton-Winter fills a critical gap in museum education with her Visitor Response Pedagogies framework. This versatile toolkit empowers cultural organizations of all types and sizes to become change-making spaces for fostering empathy and critical thinking through purposeful and inclusive programming. Purposeful Museum Programming Using Visitor Response Pedagogies is an essential read for anyone who believes museums can play a vital role in enriching lives and building stronger communities.

Jay Boda, PhD, Associate Director of Academics, Innovation, + Research, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art