Connecting Enthusiasm and Situational Interest in an Informal Learning Environment

• In Event: 18.045 - Science Capital => STEM Capitxl: Practicing Theory in a Science Museum Youth Informal Learning Program

Abstract

Museums are important public educational resources. Studies have shown that visiting museums and other informal learning environments increases students’, children’s, families’, and communities’ understanding of various subjects (Bell et al., 2016; Falk & Dierking, 1992). However, much attention in the research has been paid to variables such as museum settings and programs; little is known about museum educators and how they support visitors’ learning experiences (Allen & Crowley, 2014). The goal of this study is to fill this gap. Specifically, the study focuses on how museum educators may support visitors’ interest through their enthusiasm, considering that interest is an important learning outcome, and enthusiasm is a powerful way of creating an engaging learning experience across various subjects and environments in museums.

Using the mixed-method approach, the study investigated museum educators’ enthusiasm as perceived by adult visitors through the lens of the four-phase interest development model (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Two types of interest were focused in the study: situational and individual interest. Situational interest consists catch interest and hold interest, which represent the two early stages of interest development. The educator enthusiasm is conceptualized as an affective construct that represents the positive emotion and enjoyment that educators experience during their teaching (Frenzel et al., 2009; Keller et al., 2016).

The study was conducted in a cultural-historical museum in a metropolitan area in the U.S. Participants filled out pre- and post-tour surveys, assessing their interest and perceived enthusiasm, and were interviewed after the tour. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the relationships among these constructs. The results (N = 209) indicated a strong positive relationship between museum educators’ enthusiasm and visitors’ situational interest. Visitors’ reports of educators’ enthusiasm were directly related to catch interest ( = .74) and indirectly to hold interest ( = .46). In addition, educators’ enthusiasm mediated the connection between prior individual interest and catch interest. Visitors’ prior individual interest was also moderately related to both their catch ( = .28) and hold interest ( = .37). The qualitative data showed that museum educators created an engaging learning environment that help participants better understand the value of the subject of the tour.

The findings of this study indicated that museum educators play an influential role in shaping visitors’ learning experience. Future studies in museum education need to take museum educators and their enthusiasm into consideration to investigate how museum educator’s enthusiasm relates to other factors that also foster visitors’ interest (e.g., social environment; Dohn, 2011). For museum practitioners, the study highlights the need of professional development and trainings for museum educators to provide engaging learning experiences for visitors.

Author

• ChangChia James Liu, New York Hall of Science