Looking closely at teachers who prepare for museum visits
Date
2009-09-11T10:54:12Z
Authors
Mosabala, Mpho Shadrack
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Abstract
Although other research has addressed some features of successful school group visits to
museums, such as preparation and follow up and emphasis on first-hand experience, there
has been little research on the practices being used by the teachers who take their classes
to the museums. I examined how teachers from five schools conducted their visits to one
of four museums (Scibono Discovery Centre, HartRAO, Johannesburg Planetarium or
Adler Museum) with their learners. The case study involved observing the five teachers
before, during and after the visit and interviewing them before and after the visit. The
data were analysed using communities of practice theory to determine the practices of the
selected teachers. An in-depth analysis of the five teachers’ interviews and observations
was done both for the rich data it provided and for triangulation purposes.
The analysis shows that three teachers had what was described as task-oriented
preparation while the other two had learning-oriented preparation. One teacher
preparation was also described as not directly about the visit. The analysis further shows
that four teachers were observed to have no interaction with their learners in some
instance. Three teachers had learning oriented interaction with their learners at the
museums. Three teachers were also observed controlling the behaviour of their learners.
Furthermore, the analysis shows that the purposes and objectives of the field trips as
given by teachers were for entertainment, edutainment,curriculum, interactive, career
and tradition. Lastly, teachers follow up activities were described as either task-oriented
or learning-oriented. The study shows that some teachers are old timers while others are
newcomers in the community of teachers who take their classes to the museums.
Description
Keywords
Museum, Field trip, Communities of Practice, Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Informal learning, School visits