An examination of the interactions between museum educators and students on a school visit to science museum

Abstract

Today, science is a major part of western culture. Discussions about the need for members of the public to access and understand scientific information are therefore well established, citing the importance of such information to responsible citizenship, democracy, socially accountable scientific research and public funding (National Research Council [2009] Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits. National Academies Press). In recent years there has been an increased interest in investigating not just what visitors to informal environments have learnt after a visit, but also how visitors interact and engage with exhibits during the visit (Davidsson & Jakobsson [2012] Understanding interactions at science centers and museums: Approaching sociocultural perspectives. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers). Within the field of school visits to science museums, however, interactions between students and museum educators (MEs) remain relatively unexplored. In our study of such school visits, we are mainly interested in the interactions that take place between three agents—the students, the museum educator and the physical setting of the exhibit. Using moment‐to‐moment fine grain analysis of multiple interactions allowed us to identify recurring patterns between students and the museum educators around exhibits, and to examine the MEs’ mediational role during the interactions, and the practices they employ to engage students with exhibits. Our study revealed that most interactions between MEs and students consist of technical explanations of how to operate the exhibits. The interactions that do move past this stage often include two main practices, which the MEs use to promote students’ engagement with the exhibits: physical instruction and engaging the students emotionally. Understanding what is actually happening in the learning process that occurs during students’ interactions with exhibits can help museum educators and exhibit designers improve the experiences of students on school visits.

Opinions of Prospective Biology Teachers about “Outdoor Learning Environments”: The Case of Museum Visit and Scientific Field Trip

“…During the implementation phase of the research, it was seen that the code of following the guide / teacher came to the fore in particular after the museum visit and the code of practice after the scientific field trip, depending on the content of the trip. Parallel to this, Shaby, Ben-Zvi Assaraf and Tal (2019) underlined that effective communication between museum educators and students will allow students to improve their experiences in museum visits. In their research conducted with preschool teachers about the museum visit, Akman et al (2015) determined that the teachers focused on preliminary information about the museum and museum rules during the preparation phase.…”

Exploring participant engagement during an astrophysics virtual reality experience at a science festival

“…Since engagement is a broad and multidimensional concept comprising observable behaviour, internal cognition, and emotions (Shaby et al, 2019c), different researchers have conceptualised engagement in many different ways depending on the context and focus of the science learning. Although science educators have undertaken interesting attempts to approach the notion of engagement in the context of science museums and science centres (Faria & Chagas, 2012;Shaby et al, 2019cShaby et al, , 2019bShaby et al, 2019a;Yoon & Wang, 2014), few studies have looked at engagement in the context of science festivals.…”

Understanding Parents’ Roles in Children’s Learning and Engagement in Informal Science Learning Sites

“…In the current study, we aim to examine how learning behaviors exhibited by children visiting ISLS with their family are associated with environmental factors, parental behaviors, as well as the prescence of an educator. Although some prior research has examined environmental factors, such as the exhibit features ( Barriault and Pearson, 2010 ; Shaby et al, 2017 ), explored children’s learning with attention to the role of the parents ( Benjamin et al, 2010 ; Callanan et al, 2020 ), and other research has examined children’s interactions with educators in ISLS ( Shaby et al, 2019 ), scant research has attended to both caregivers and educators as well as environmental factors in concert.…”

“…Although many visitors report that the primary reason why they visit ISLS is for entertainment ( Tofield et al, 2003 ), ISLS also provide opportunities for science learning ( National Research Council, 2009 ; Shouse et al, 2010 ). Research has focused on the academic- and science-related outcomes of visiting ISLS, including attention to learning during school group ( Tal and Morag, 2007 ; Shaby and Vedder-Weiss, 2019 ; Shaby et al, 2019 ) and family visits ( Benjamin et al, 2010 ; Haden, 2010 ; Callanan et al, 2017 , 2020 ; Pattison et al, 2018 ).…”