Facilitating museum to classroom connections: How the creation of classroom activities to supplement a museum visit transformed teachers’ ideas about informal educational resources

Many teachers are unsure about how to best utilize museum educational resources. They do not think that approaches and strategies from informal learning environments apply to classroom settings (Melber & Cox-Peterson, 2005). Yet studies have shown that simple solutions such as exhibit orientation and conducting pre and post-visit activities to supplement a field trip can help students have a richer learning experience (Gilbert & Priest, 1997; Anderson & Lucas, 1997). The current study explores the affect of making relevant findings from informal learning research explicit to pre-service teachers in the context of a teacher training course. Pre-service teachers’ were interviewed before and after their participation in the course to determine if instruction changed their ability to articulate museum-to-classroom connections.