History Museum Experiences and Guide Characteristics: The Soldier as a Guide at the War Museum (Poster 26)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Eight
  In Poster Session: Informal Learning Environments Research SIG Poster Presentation (Place-Based)

Abstract

We examined the relations between history museum learning and guide’s characteristics and
compared the experiences of two visitors’ groups (N=8) guided by two different guides. The first
- a professional museum guide and the second - a soldier who personally fought in and
experienced the presented battle. All participants responded to pre- and post-visit questionnaires
and individually interviewed. Each visitor wore a head camera for capturing interactions with
others and the environment. A researcher’s camera followed each group tour for observations
and for capturing the wider interactions’ contexts. Finding suggested a novel guidance mode -
the “involved guide”, who promoted historical empathy in visitors through cognitive knowledge
and affect. Its affordances, constraints and implications to museum education are discussed.

Authors

• Billie Eilam, University of Haifa
  Presenting Author

• Ofri Bashan, University of Haifa
  Non-Presenting Author