At the Yale University Art Gallery, elementary school children and Yale graduate students learn together

The long-standing partnership between Yale and New Haven Public Schools brings third-grade students into the museum to view original works of art and learn from specially trained graduate student gallery teachers. 

April 16, 2025
 

This winter and spring, third graders from New Haven Public Schools visited the Yale University Art Gallery as part of a collaborative program aimed at teaching students how art is part of their community. Yale graduate students who are trained as museum educators lead the program, which was launched more than 30 years ago.

This partnership ensures that every third grader visits the Yale University Art Gallery or the Yale Center for British Art every year. At the Gallery, Jessica Sack, Jan and Frederick Mayer Curator of Public Education, organizes the visits in collaboration with Holly Maxson, supervisor of the New Haven Public School Performing and Visual Arts. Together, they determine the goals for the visits. 

“The third grade visits to the Gallery focus on helping students learn to look at art and develop a vocabulary for describing what they see. Their visits help them think about how to draw and write in response to looking, and complement what they are learning in their art classes at their schools,” Sack said. 

“We have close relationships with art teachers in the district and are excited to see how spending time at the museum, looking at original works of art, and having conversations about what they see, helps our younger visitors see the arts as part of their own lives and helps them think about creative choices they make in their art classes,” Sack added. 

Visits are led by Wurtele Gallery Teachers, a cohort of Yale graduate students trained to work as museum educators. The training program, developed by Sack in 2005 and endowed by Margaret and Angus Wurtele, facilitates the development of graduate students as professional teachers, drawing on students from across disciplines. Gallery Teachers receive rigorous training in museum education each September and October before developing and leading sessions in front of original works of art. The sessions Gallery Teachers lead encourage close-looking and activity-based learning.

Yale graduate students Sena Amuzu and Ziming Liu are among several Gallery Teachers leading this year's third grade visits. Ziming Liu is a sixth-year doctoral candidate in Classics and the History of Art, and has been a Gallery Teacher at the Gallery since 2023. Sena Amuzu is a first-year doctoral student in American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She completed her Gallery Teacher training this fall and has recently started leading visits. 

Communication with the public is an essential skill emphasized during graduate education. Liu says she became a Gallery Teacher to gain more teaching experience during her doctoral program while facilitating community engagement. The community partnerships of the Gallery were a huge draw. 

“At the Gallery, you’re dealing with all sorts of people from different community groups, not only primary and secondary schools but also rehabilitation programs, adults wanting to make friends, and retirees,” Liu said. Communication is always contextual, requiring distinctive strategies for engaging with communities. Graduate teachers flex these communication muscles, developing effective methods for connecting with learners of all ages. 

For Amuzu, the “ability to teach across age groups is crucial as an academic.” Teaching in the museum helps her converse with the community without relying on academic jargon. Developing strong communication skills in the museum trains Gallery Teachers to effectively communicate about their own research, as they learn to articulate their thoughts to multiple audiences. 

Liu’s hour-long lesson introduces students to objects or paintings that have two parts, including a double-sided display of Indonesian shadow puppets (early 20th century CE), portraits of 18th-century New Haven residents Dr. Hezekiah Beardsley (ca. 1788-90) and Elizabeth Davis Beardsley (ca. 1788-90), and a wooden threshold from Indonesia (17th century CE). Students are split into two groups and asked to look at the shadow puppets from each side and record their observations. Liu then facilitates a conversation between students on each side of the object, allowing them to compare observations from different perspectives. 

In the American galleries, students view the portrait of Mrs. Beardsley and are asked to guess what Mr. Beardsley’s portrait might look like. Liu eventually reveals his portrait, allowing students to compare what they imagined with the real thing. 

During one of Amuzu’s tours, students were asked to think about shapes and color while visiting Picasso’s Dog and Cock (1921 CE), Tiger in Profile (1902 CE) by Japanese artist Konoshima Ōkoku, and Battle of Lights, Coney Island, Mardi Gras (1913-14 CE) by Frank Stella. When the students visited the painting of Coney Island, they used small pieces of colorful felt cut into different shapes to explore the use of color and form in the painting. Amuzu also used generative activities like storytelling and word bubbles to encourage close looking when visiting other works. 

Another school visit included Martin Wong’s homage to the Lower East Side in La Vida (1988), reliefs from the palace of Assyrian King Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE), and a ceramic model of a ball playing court (100 BCE-250 CE) from Nayarit, Mexico, focusing on the theme of community. 

For Liu—who studies playfulness in Attic Greek ceramics—her favorite part about teaching third graders is “their endless supply of energy and curiosity and joy.” Amuzu, whose work draws on Black feminist thought and Queer of Color critique, appreciates that students are often very willing to share their opinions. 

For many elementary students, it’s their first visit to any museum. Students have different reactions when they arrive. Eyes widen as students approach an enormous painting. Muted chatter spreads as other classmates whisper observations. A flurry of small hands soar into the air, ready to ask questions about colors, lines, and shapes. The excitement is palpable as students walk through the Gallery, eager to soak in everything they see. Encouraging excitement is an essential tool in helping students feel comfortable in the museum from a young age.

Through these visits and other programs, Gallery Teachers are essential facilitators of community engagement at the Yale University Art Gallery, ensuring all New Haven residents have access to Yale’s world-class fine art collection.  

By C.R. Davis