Leveraging Parent Chaperones to Support Youths’ Learning During an Out-of-School Field Trip to a Marine Science Field Station

Abstract

Historically, research on field trips to out-of-school settings has focused on cognitive outcomes as well as affective impacts of field trips (Anderson et al. 2000; Falk 1983; Falk and Dierking 1997). However, few studies have examined the role that parent chaperones play during these field trips and the ways in which interactions (including learning conversations) between parent chaperones and youth could be leveraged to further support learning during field trips. In this chapter, the authors shared findings of a study exploring the nature of interactions between parent chaperones and youth during a field trip to a marine science field station. The rationale was to understand such interactions as a means to leverage parent chaperones to further support learners during field trip experiences to out-of-school marine science education settings. Data was collected from groups attending the Coastal Ecology three-day field trip program at the Chincoteague Bay Field Station located in Wallops Island, Virginia (USA), and videotaped all interactions that took place during science activities. To gain insight into the ways parent chaperones interacted with learners during the field trip experience, the authors conducted a qualitative, microethnographic study using predominately video-based data collection strategies. The analysis utilized sociocultural learning theories and an iterative data analysis process to understand the ways in which parent chaperones talked with youth during school field trips. The findings included three broad themes of these interactions that emerged—supporting learning, managing learners, and interfering with learning. This chapter expands on each of these heuristic themes and offers examples from the observations of chaperone–youth interactions that support each of these assertions as well as implications for practice.