The Teachers College often sends students to local schools to tutor children in their classrooms.
But Claudia McVicker, associate professor of elementary education, makes her classes take their students to Minnetrista Cultural Center twice a week to learn about reading and anything else that can be learned from that environment.
"It's a creative way to use the place," Christy Wauzzinski, a Minnetrista educator, said.
Research shows that is also a productive way to approach learning. A study published last month from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee supports the method. It evaluated classrooms for the last three years and determined that direct instruction is not always the best form of teaching.
"My girls have been in the tutoring program for three years, and they prefer it at the Minnetrista," Debra Jones, mother of two fourth-grade girls, said.
The children tutored at Minnetrista come from all over Delaware County, ranging from second- to seventh-grade.
Students do more than read. During the hour-long sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays after school, children read and then do crafts, draw or discuss something about an artifact or exhibit in the museum with their tutor to help involve the child in their reading.
The program at Minnetrista began six years ago when Lawrence Smith, professor and chair of the elementary education department, came up with the idea along with Owen Glendening, president and CEO of Minnetrista.
Wauzzinski said Smith got the idea when he saw the children's gardens and noticed that many of the themes related to literature.
Minnetrista< B> < B>also sees tutoring as another opportunity to connect with something educational.
"Most museums have their own educators in hopes that teachers will utilize the museum to help with teaching about a certain topic," McVicker said.
Students in McVicker's class hope to be able to use museums when they become teachers.
"I like it a lot," senior Laura Brown said. "It's more fun than sitting at a desk in the Teachers College."
McVicker is doing research for the department that surrounds the idea that Ball State students have a different experience off campus. So far, she has seen a major difference in behavior between those who are tutored in a school-like setting and students who work at Minnetrista. She's also seen a difference in reading level, spelling and attitudes toward reading.
"I'm presenting this whole idea at the State Reading Conference," McVicker said. "I'm hoping that teachers will try to duplicate the idea, so they might take a child who is having trouble to a park or a playground ... and read there."
She said that students in the museum improved more than those that were tutored at the teachers college.
The education department is hoping to keep the program going in the future.
"It is a unique program, and we hope to build on it over the next few years," Smith said.
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