Abstract
The article describes a study of teachers’ and museum personnel’s perceptions of class visits to an education centre at a large science museum in Israel and follows up their communication and interactions before, during, and at the completion of a museum visit. We identified three levels of communication: administrative’ content, and pedagogical-content, and observed three patterns of teachers’ behaviour: involved, follows school’s tradition and passive. A major difference was found with regards to the teachers’ school. Elementary school teachers tended to rely completely on the museum staff in planning the visit, and rarely prepared their students in advance or took an active part during the class visit. Secondary school teachers on the other hand, were found to be more active while planning the visit and during the class visit. The museum staff preferred more involved teachers, but did not make any explicit attempts to encourage the teachers to be more active. It appears that “the teachers get what they want” or what the museum staff believes the teachers want.
Résumé
L’article décrit une étude sur les impressions des enseignants et du personnel d’un musée sur les visites de classes effectuées au centre éducatif d’un grand musée scientifique en Israël, et documente leurs communications et interactions avant, pendant et après la visite du musée. Nous avons identifié trois niveaux de communication: le plan administratif, le plan des contenus et le plan des contenus pédagogiques, et nous avons observé trois modèles de comportements chez les enseignants: la participation active, un comportement fondé sur les traditions de l’école et le comportement passif Nous avons noté une différence importante selon le type d’école. Les enseignants du primaire tendaient à donner carte blanche au personnel du musée pour ce qui est de la planification de l’activité, ne préparaient guère leurs élèves avant la visite et ne prenaient aucune part active lors de la visite elle-même. Les enseignants du secondaire, pour leur part, étaient plus actifs aussi bien lors de la planification que durant la visite. Quand aux membres du personnel du musée, ils préfèrent en général que les enseignants participent activement, mais ne font aucun effort pour encourager explicitement les enseignants à être plus actifs. Il semble donc que «les enseignants obtiennent ce qu’ils souhaitent», ou encore qu’ils obtiennent ce que le personnel du musée croit qu’ils souhaitent.
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Tal, T., Steiner, L. Patterns of Teacher-Museum Staff Relationships: School Visits to the Educational Centre of a Science Museum. Can J Sci Math Techn 6, 25–46 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1080/14926150609556686
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14926150609556686