Building Relationships between Museums and Schools: Reggio Emilia as a Bridge to Educate Children about Heritage

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an excellent paper. There are some small but important things that need to be addressed in revisions:

In the 2. Justification section an explanation as to why RE is best/better suited than other teaching methods (such as Montessori or Socratic, etc.) is needed. I agree that RE is very good, but we need to understand why not the other teaching methods.

In the 3. Methodology section (especially 3.2 Analysis of the practice of Museums) 14 museums out of 29 with early childhood program were identified as having the RE pedagogical model. It would be good to state what the remaining 15 are as well as their breakdown. This way we have an idea of what other pedagogical models are present and more or less dominant. Also, what are the remaining 56 museums with no early childhood programs doing?

In section 5.2.4. Types of activities that can be developed, can the author's elaborate on how much and the role of experiential learning there is, in contrast other types of learning regarding the activities taking place.

In section 7. Conclusion and recommendations, can the author make additional recommendations on what university-level Museum Studies programs, Heritage Studies programs, and Early Education programs can do to support the other recommendations that they are making? Teaching the teacher/museum curator is important and universities are in a unique position to greatly influence the field, and this should be recognized.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The article is highly valuable guide both for teachers in schools and for museum educators all over the world. The construction of text, posed theses, conclusions and recommendations are clear and based on proper references / bibliography . The group of museums choosen for examination is representative while showing different aspects of collections and social problems.

Some of suggestions of the authors should be treated as  fundamental conception of early educations! (for example: ' In museums and schools, it is important that teachers who work on educational projects with infants are teacher-researchers, as they must not only guide them but also listen,  observe and document their work' [lines 353-354].

Recommendations 7.1 to 7.5 should be treated as obligatory lecture for all educators and teachers at schools!

It was a great pleasure to read the text! 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf