Virtual Museum Collaborations for Cultural Revitalization: The Four Directions Model

The Four Directions Project, funded by the U. S. Department of Education, is an education project with the goal of using technology to support culturally responsible education for Native American Students. One culturally responsive teaching strategy is virtual museum projects done in partnership with museums that hold important cultural items. The paper describes the learning project that led to in the creation of the Virtual Tour of the National Museum of the American Indian. Emerging from this experience is a Four Directions model for school-museum partnerships for virtual museum projects. The model considers such projects in the context of three overlapping concepts: culturally responsive education, cultural revitalization, and cultural collaboration. The model is illustrated through a description of virtual museum project activities from both the educator and museum professional perspective and through an account of the development of American Indian education and contemporary museums.