History

The Museum of Teaching and Learning (MOTAL) 
A Brief History

Helping to make the world a better place for learning...and understanding!

From 2003 through 2008, MOTAL has laid a solid foundation for the future:

• developed the unique, interactive MOTAL concept: "exploring, communicating and celebrating the ways people learn"
  


• determined interest among educators, community leaders, the public


• established a core advisory committee


• recruited a membership of more than 280 individuals


• received grants (Edison International, Bayer Family Foundation, ConAgra Corp.).


• received endorsements (university presidents & leaders; CSUF, CSULB, OCDE).


• initiated collaborations (National Archives, Old Courthouse Museum, four local universities)


• built alliances (AARP, NEA, U.S. Dept. of Ed)


• collected over 250 artifacts with accompanying stories


• become an independent nonprofit organization with its first-phase governing board

MOTAL creates exhibits and activities about learning for the general public. Our first three exhibits show how education has been made accessible to previously overlooked populations. The first two traveling exhibits opened in Long Beach in 2007 and 2008. Using interactive story telling and hands-on activities they share the amazing accomplishments of Horace Mann, The Father of American Public Education and Maria Montessori, known worldwide for her outreach to children of poverty and techniques of personalized instruction.

 

Opening November 2010, at the Old Courthouse Museum in Santa Ana, CA, - expecting thousands of schoolchildren, senior citizens, and everyone in between, - preparing teenagers to do service learning as exhibit "explainers," practicing skills as presenters while learning about the importance of school integration, and showing how a few individuals can promote change.