Pedagogy and Museum Design: Exploring Student Research at the Blackwater Draw Museum

This article explores collaborative pedagogical approaches to museum exhibit design through a partnership between an anthropology class and the Blackwater Draw Museum at Eastern New Mexico University. This collaboration brought together faculty, staff, undergraduate, and graduate students to showcase the regionally relevant issues of water overuse and the conservation of the Ogallala Aquifer. Students employed anthropological research methods to develop a mini-exhibit in the Blackwater Draw Museum that incorporated data collected from the Portales and Clovis communities concerning water usage patterns of the past and present. Ultimately, this case study seeks to build a bridge between pedagogy and museum studies, showcasing opportunities for collaboration between the social sciences and regional heritage institutions.