Mathematics Learning Pathways on a School Fieldtrip: Interactional Practices Linking School and Museum Activity

Abstract Formal and informal educators often struggle with the question of whether and how school fieldtrips might productively connect school- and museum-based learning. I share findings from a video-based ethnographic study of 5th- through 7th-grade fieldtrips to a museum mathematics exhibition. Through a collection of case analyses of situated talk and interaction, I describe three distinct interactional practices by which teachers and students can relate learning mathematics in the classroom and on the museum floor. Findings help further elucidate the potential nature of situated interactions during school fieldtrips while pointing to the possibility that teachers and learners are making more connections between the classroom and the museum than might be made visible by attention to instructional design or written assessments alone. Moreover, teachers and students can forge these connections in ways that build on the kinds of open-ended material encounters, unanticipated curiosities, and playful engagements that are hallmarks of intended visitor experiences at free-choice science centers.