Teen museum educators increase engagement, learning, in tween visitors


Date:
July 27, 2020
Source:
North Carolina State University
Summary:
A new study finds that youth docents have an overall positive
effect on visitors' experiences, learning and information retention
at informal learning sites -- like museums. The positive effects
accrued across age groups regardless of museum type, but were most
apparent in children ages 9 to 11.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Do you want to get the most out of a museum and encourage your child's
interest in STEM? Try interacting with a teenaged museum docent. Research
led by investigators from North Carolina State University and the
University of Exeter in the U.K. has found that youth docents have an
overall positive effect on visitors' experiences, learning and information retention at informal learning sites. The positive effects accrued across
age groups regardless of museum type, but were most apparent in children
ages 9 to 11.


========================================================================== Informal learning sites -- such as museums, zoos and aquariums -- often
have programs for teenaged docents, or educators. The programs serve as
a way for the teens to build social skills, as well as reinforce their abilities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). But what
about the visitors? Do they also benefit from these programs? NC State researchers Kelly Lynn Mulvey, associate professor of psychology, Adam Hartstone-Rose, associate professor of biological sciences, and their colleagues surveyed the effect of teen docents at five informal learning
sites in the U.S. and the U.K. The sites included a zoo, an aquarium,
a children's museum, a technology-themed museum and a health-themed
science center.

They surveyed over 2,100 (979 children and adolescents and 1,184
adults) visitors who either explored the exhibit on their own or who had interacted with either an adult or youth educator. The survey questions
covered topic interest, perceived learning and informational recall of
exhibit content. The researchers used multi-levelled modeling to control
for differences between sites.

While all groups reported greater topic interest when interacting with
an educator of any age, their engagement and interest levels were higher
when interacting with youth educators. But the largest impact was on
children between 9 and 11 years old, whose information retention levels
were significantly higher when interacting with a youth, rather than an
adult, educator.

"We know that learning is highly social, so we expected that visitors
would benefit more when they interacted with an educator," Mulvey
says. "But, we were very surprised at how helpful talking with a teen
educator was.

"Perhaps this is because a teenaged educator isn't too far removed from
these kids, age-wise. Not only can the educator present the topic on
the correct level, these kids look up to and can see themselves in the teenagers, more so than to an adult who they might see as just another teacher." Additionally, the researchers found that adult visitors also reported high benefits from interacting with youth educators. "What was fascinating was not only the strong impact on child visitors, but also
the higher engagement level from adults," Hartstone-Rose says. "I refer
to that effect as the 'charm factor' -- the idea that the adults may
want to invest time to help youth succeed." The researchers emphasize
the beneficial overall effect of educators, regardless of age.

"Having someone there to make the exhibit personally relevant is important
to engagement, interest, how much you think you learn and how much you
actually learn," Mulvey says. "This is especially important now, when
museums are trying to figure out how to reopen. This work shows that
cutting back to just the exhibits would really impact their educational
value." "These results also make a compelling argument for investing
in youth programs -- not only for the benefit of the educators, but as a
way to keep younger generations engaged throughout their school years," Hartstone-Rose says. "The bottom line is, if you visit a zoo or museum,
seek these people out -- you will have a better experience."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by North_Carolina_State_University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kelly Lynn Mulvey, Luke McGuire, Adam J. Hoffman, Eric Goff, Adam
Rutland, Mark Winterbottom, Frances Balkwill, Matthew J. Irvin,
Grace E.

Fields, Karen Burns, Marc Drews, Fidelia Law, Angelina Joy,
Adam Hartstone-Rose. Interest and learning in informal science
learning sites: Differences in experiences with different
types of educators. PLOS ONE, 2020; 15 (7): e0236279 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0236279 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200727114708.htm

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