MONITORED VISITING PROGRAM OF STUDENTS TO A SCIENCE CENTER: MONITORS, STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND LEARNING

Abstract

One of the objective of science centers and museums is the popularization of Science and the diffusion of scientific knowledge based on a non-formal space, with peculiar characteristics. According to Krappas and Rebello (2001, p.68 ) “formal education, delivered by the school, can not provide all the scientific education and information required by citizens that allow them to understand the changes of the world and take part in the decisions related to science”. So, it is observed that these non-formal learning spaces can play the function of complementation of the scientific education of the general public that visits their facilities. Considering the relevance of these non-formal spaces to the scientific formation of their visitors, the objective of the present research is to present information about some of the actors that participate in school student monitored visits to a science center – monitors, visiting students and teachers considerations’ about the role played by the monitors, the behavior of the visitors, the teacher’s attitudes - and the possibility of testing the contribution of the visit to the science comprehension of the students. All these aspects will be considered according to the monitors’ point of view, considering that during their performance they are inserted in a context that they must consider and reflect about, and they are one of the main factors responsible by the development of the activities proposed by the science center, making the mediation between the exposition knowledge and the visiting public. The data presented in this article were collected by questionnaires answered by the monitors. Regarding the visiting student behavior we saw that age, cognitive development, school level, the presence of the teachers in the group, the other students present in the group, are some of the determining factors for the behavior patterns observed. Considering the teachers’ attitudes during the visitats, we also noted a great variation of behavior, those that collaborated with the activities proposed by the monitor, others that have active participated in the presentation and those who made interventions during the monitor’s presentation, unfortunately, showing conceptual errors in their speech. Now considering the role of the monitors, it has been strongly characterized as being mainly the one of knowledge mediator. This is a very important function, which demands at the same time a broad and a specific formation of the monitors, since their performances involve many scientific concepts to be exploited during the presentations. Concerned to the question about the effective contribution of the monitored visits to the scientific learning of the visitors, based on the impressions of the monitors we have indications that some positive contributions occur during the visitats.