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Investigating social factors within children’s non-formal learning experiences in an aquarium
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Judge, Sarah-Jane (2019) Investigating social factors within children’s non-formal learning experiences in an aquarium. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3519972~S15
Abstract
A key sociological concern is that families higher up the socio-economic ladder are more likely to spend leisure time taking their children to non-formal learning institutions, thus presenting a risk that any educational benefits arising from such visits will have the potential to increase educational inequalities across different socio-economic groups. As school trips tend to consist of children from more diverse backgrounds, more representative of the general community, such visits have been mooted as a method of levelling the educational playing field between socio-economic groups. Additional research in this area, however, points to the contrary, suggesting that prior experience of non-formal learning venues plays an important role in shaping how much learning is achieved during subsequent visits to similar establishments. If correct, school trips could therefore be exacerbating the problem, acting as a form of cultural capital, further widening the gap in educational inequalities, as children from middle class families know how to behave and perform in such settings, getting more educational value out of the trip.
Aquariums, along with zoos, comprise a key category of non-formal learning with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums reporting over 12 million students annually attending their member institutions on school trips. This mixed method research used interviews with educators and pre- and post-visit questionnaires, including a drawing element with children, to investigate how social factors, teacher practice and prior experience of non-formal learning institutions may influence learning outcomes of school aquarium visits. No correlation was found between prior experience levels of non-formal learning institutions and cognitive learning, but some influence was found across age, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Whilst teachers reported a general lack of concern about inequalities during school trips, practices such as booking staff member guided tours of the aquarium and undertaking linked pre-visit activities were found to have influence on learning achieved.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology L Education > LC Special aspects of education |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | School field trips, Non-formal education, Public aquariums -- Educational aspects, Education -- Social aspects | ||||
Official Date: | August 2019 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Sociology | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Hewitt, Des ; Jensen, Eric, 1981- | ||||
Sponsors: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | 370 leaves : illustrations (some color) | ||||
Language: | eng |
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