Situated Factors Affecting Parental Mediation of a History Museum Content to Their Children

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Museums and Visitor Engagement

Abstract

We examined parental mediation of a history museum content to their accompanying children during a museum visit. Ten parent-child dyads (9-12 years old) were fitted with a small head-camera for recording their entire visit – navigation, interactions with exhibits and related conversations. An additional camera recorded the broader context of learning events and navigation. Pre-visit questionnaires and two separated in time post-visit interviews were conducted. We applied the grounded theory for data analysis and considered parental mediation in light of Schwab’s four commonplaces. Our findings distinct the studied history museum from science ones regarding the influence of the subject-matter characteristics and the milieu – museum structure and organization, on the learning event. Implications are discussed.

Authors

• Billie Eilam, University of Haifa

• Merav yosfan, University of Haifa of Israel