2nd World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES-2010), İstanbul, Türkiye, 4 - 08 Şubat 2010, cilt.2, ss.600-608
The emphasis on educational functions of museums increase with each passing day. At the present day, these establishments exist for being in the service of the community, open themselves to the public use, research the materials which are the proofs of environment and the humanity and they effect the life long learning process of the society through contemporary educational concepts. Museums sometimes target only art lovers, science lovers or children and young people and make their own collections according to the needs of the target audiences and their curiosity. In this study, the evolutional development, aims and the momentum of children's museums, which are 'learning by doing centers' and are evaluated in turn. Children's museums, such as science, technology and discovery centers, are also alternative and innovative spaces for school education to supply active children's participation into learning. There is not any children's museum in Turkey but there are also some efforts for establishing. In addition to the identification of children's museums, the necessity of them and current situation of museum education in Turkey are also evaluated through related samples. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.