Benefits of Taking Children to the Museum

A longtime resident of Houston, Texas, Joel Bartsch serves as the president and CEO of the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS). In this role, Joel A. Bartsch guides all museum operations and is responsible for designing educational programming, implementing renovation strategies, and managing the museum's growing membership and philanthropy initiatives.

Museums are informational centers that aim to educate the inquiring mind. Museums introduce them to other worlds by piquing their interest and offer them important learning opportunities.

Like informal learning settings, museums are a collection of materials that encourage informal education, which is a process through which people gain values, information, and abilities that are not specific to one profession but will benefit them for the rest of their lives. A single visit to a local museum will offer youngsters in-depth information about many subjects that they may gradually learn because museums allow visitors to remain as long as they like.

Despite common assumptions, museums do more than educate. They help children extend their views and gain information in many areas of life. One of the most appealing aspects of visiting a museum is that it allows young people to compare and contrast different exhibits and choose what knowledge is most essential since it is so densely packed with information and displays. Youngsters need to be able to compare and contrast in this way to develop critical thinking abilities.