Moving from task-oriented to learning-oriented strategies on school excursions to museums

Abstract

Museums are best considered as venues for informal learning and yet the authors' observations were that most school classes that visit museums are restricted and structured, the students not being provided with optimal opportunities to learn in an informal manner. Although research has addressed some features of successful school group visits to museums, such as preparation and orientation, emphasis on first‐hand experience, and use of worksheets, there has been little research on the role of the class teacher in facilitating learning during excursions. This study investigated strategies used by class teachers before, during, and following excursions to two venues in Sydney, Australia, offering opportunities for learning science in an informal setting. The sample chosen for the study comprised 12 school groups involving 29 teachers and 735 students in 30 classes ranging from grade 5 to grade 10. Data were collected through observation and interviews before, during, and 2–3 weeks after the visit. The results indicate that class teachers used mainly task‐oriented teaching practices and made little effort to link topics being studied at school and the museum. Little congruence was apparent between the practices observed and what the literature suggested for effective planning and management of school excursions. The authors propose a framework to guide teachers in planning learning‐oriented excursions based on a synthesis of knowledge of natural learning behaviors exhibited by family groups in museums and lessons from constructivist theories of learning, together with strategies reported in the literature and confirmed by this study as contributing to learning on school excursions to museums. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 81:763–779, 1997.

Guided school visits to natural history museums in Israel: Teachers' roles

“…The Israeli Ministry of Education acknowledges and supports museum-learning experiences by funding a large number of centers according to their number of student visits and educational programs (Carmeli & Shavit, 2001). Although schools and teachers attribute high value to the museum visit, the international literature indicates that teachers hardly define their goals for the museum visit, they rarely plan or enact previsit activities, and they hardly ever perceive the museum activity as engaging sociocultural learning experience (Cox Petersen et al, 2003;Griffin, 2004;Griffin & Symington, 1997;Kisiel, 2003;Price & Hein, 1991).…”

“…Very little preparation is done for museum excursions, and even then, most of the preparation is technical and focuses on schedules and instructions regarding clothing and food (Griffin & Symington, 1997). Most of the studies that reported about meaningful preparation or follow-up activities described research settings, in which the researchers were involved in preparing the activity with the teachers or the museum staff (Anderson et al, 2000;Gilbert & Priest, 1997;Henriksen & Jorde, 2001).…”

“…This study, which is part of a larger study (Tal, 2004a), held in four natural history museums and centers in Israel, focused on the roles and perceptions of teachers, who visited the museums with their classes. The study followed previous studies that aimed at understanding the role teachers play in class visits to museums (Cox-Petersen et al, 2003;Griffin & Symington, 1997;Olson, Cox-Petersen & McComas, 2001). While these studies were carried out in countries with many years of museum education, our study is the first one of its kind in Israel.…”

Experiential Ecological Investigations as a Vehicle Coupling Teaching & Research in High Schools & Universities

“…The nature of this difference however varies greatly. Some researchers argue that informal learning is almost entirely self guided, with very little structure or direct participation on the part of the teacher (Wells 1999;Griffin and Symington 1997;Gallas, 1994). Others take a more moderate view, arguing that informal learning can be a component of a larger, highly structured learning experience, or a learning experience in and of itself which is fairly structured and teacher guided (Fernandez-Manzanal et al, 1999;Minstrell 1999;Ryder et al, 1998;Jones 1997;Rosebery et al 1992;).…”

Exploring a school–aquarium collaboration: An intersection of communities of practice

“…It is important to recognize that there is a body of evidence, much of it focusing on school field trips, indicating that school-ISI interactions can indeed support student learning and that certain pedagogical strategies can be used for creating beneficial science learning experiences (see, e.g., Anderson & Lucas, 1997;Bamberger & Tal, 2007;Falk, Martin, & Balling, 1978;Gennaro, 1981;Griffin, 1994;Kubota & Olstad, 1991;Orion, 1993;Rennie & McClafferty, 1995;Storksdieck, Werner, & Kaul, 2005). Several studies suggest, however, that these research efforts are not effectively informing teacher practice within the museum setting (Anderson, Kisiel, & Storksdieck, 2006;DeWitt & Storksdieck, 2008;Griffin & Symington, 1997;Kisiel, 2005Kisiel, , 2007Storksdieck et al, 2005). Furthermore, recent studies suggest that science museum resources are generally underused by the teachers they hope to serve (Bevan, 2007;Finkelstein, 2005;Phillips, Finkelstein, & Wever-Frerichs, 2007) and that external factors such as rising costs and accountability concerns are likely influencing teacher and school participation (Anderson et al, 2006;DeWitt & Storksdieck, 2008).…”