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.

This study was an attempt to determine to what extent personal contacts, as a part of student recruitment, acquainted high school seniors of 1958 with Brigham Young University and influenced them in their enrollment. Opinions of college freshmen who were graduated from high schools visited by a B.Y.U. public relations representative were elicited by mail questionnaire. Respondents were asked to list the means through which they became "acquainted" with the University. They were also asked to list what "influenced" them to attend. Personal contacts by a public relations representative were considered among various means of "acquaintance" and "influence" of a public relations nature to provide relative comparison. A specific question also asked whether a visit by the public relations representative influenced students to enroll at B.Y.U. Accompanying the areas inviting opinions on means of "acquaintance" and of "influence" was an area inviting free response regarding what the students "reasons" were for enrolling. It was recognized that "reasons" for attending an institution are not necessarily attributed to the source of "acquaintance" or the source of "influence." "Reasons," it was recognized, were likely to be attributed to institutional characteristics established by ideals, objectives, location, course offerings, and others. A series of questions were included to determine students' opinions on whether a college representative could provide assistance toward college orientation of high school students, and whether he could provide assistance, in addition to orientation given by high school guidance personnel and a class unit of college orientation.

[pt] Jardins botânicos são instituições que visam a pesquisa, o estudo e a conservação vegetal, e estão cada vez mais abertas ao público. O Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, uma das mais antigas instituições científicas do país, tem na dimensão educativa um importante elo de ligação com o público. As escolas são parte significativa do universo de visitantes, que a cada ano e para a qual, foram criados projetos específicos de educação ambiental. Este estudo teve por objetivo examinar as relações do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro com o público escolar, através de observações de práticas educativas desenvolvidas na instituição, e de entrevistas realizadas nas escolas, com professores que levam suas turmas para visitas ao Jardim. Os dados obtidos na pesquisa permitem identificar questões que favorecem e outras que dificultam a aproximação entre esses dois universos, Jardim e escola, o que pode contribuir para a construção de uma possível parceria. / [en] Botanical Gardens are institutions increasingly open to a public that seeks to study and preserve flora. The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, one of the oldest scientific institutions in Brazil, has created an important bond with the public through its educational activities. Schools, for which specific environmental educational projects have been created, are a significant portion of the universe of visitors, which is increasing every year. The present study has the purpose of examining the relationship between the Botanical Garden and the school public, by means of observation of the educational practices developed by the institution, together with interviews conducted with the teachers who bring their students to the Garden. The data obtained in the research allowed the identification of elements that favor, as well as those that hinder, the approximation of these two universes, The Botanical Garden and the school, thus contributing to the development of an effective partnership.

When teachers reason about where they take their students to places such as cultural heritage sites, historical places and museums, they usually have a motive for why they choose to make such a trip. And it is usually because they want to evoke their students' abilities to work and study the school subject history. One of these abilities the teacher wants their students to uphold, are for example historical empathy. The aim of this study is to map the state of knowledge for how visits to historical sites and museums are used within and motivated in history teaching. The information retrieval was mainly performed on searching empirical information via databases such as SwePub, Libsearch and Google Scholar, through the search engine in Malmö University library webpage. After an extensive and thorough research, the information gathered from the search shows that both scholars, museum educators, teachers and students agree that it is good to make these kinds of field trips. It can help students to engage with and within history, to evolve their perspectives on the history and abilities to understand other people and their actions, thoughts and beliefs in the past. The reason for doing this research is to understand the purpose of these kinds of visits and in the near future to use this as an advantage, for ourselves when we want to evoke historical abilities in our future students.