Early childhood education and Cultural Change in Children's museums

I had high hopes that the session on Early Childhood Education would include presentations by authorities on developments on early childhood education and how they are being used in children's museums. It turned out to be small group discussions about what the participants were doing in their museums. Not quite the same thing. When my turn came around I talked about our PAL Islands and the learning opportunities they bring to public libraries.

After this I attended Children and Cultural Change. One of the presenters was Sarah Hashem, Director of the Children's Museum of Cairo. I could have listened to her the entire session. She talked about the history of the Cairo museum and recent changes that they have experienced. The museum used to be the Suzan Mubarak children's Museum until the recent change in government. Currently schools are not in session and things have been unsettled. She talked about her facility's partnership with the Indianapolis Children's Museum. She and her staff did a Google search for the world's largest children's museum which turned up Indianapolis. They have partnered and Indy has provided training to the Cairo museum staff while Cairo assisted in a "Take Me There" exhibit on Egypt.