“Opening Doors to Family Learning”
A Family Learning Roundtable Presentation by Dan Freas
June 14, 2005
Conner Prairie (background)
- Founded by Eli Lilly in 1934
- Five historic acres; overall 800 acres that explore various chapters in Indiana's past (currently 19th century focus)
- First-person living historical interpretation complimented by third-person uninformed interpreters
- 320,000 annual visitors
- 300 paid staff (90 full time)
- 350 volunteers (100 youth)
- $8 million annual budget
- AAM accredited
Learning Studies— Round 1
2000: Museum Learning Collaborative and Conner Prairie— Independent Pilot Study
What We Learned
Rigid interpretation adhering to site-specific “post goals”
Example: Golden Eagle Inn Post Goals (Prairietown)
Taproom: travel/transportation, men's roles, politics/economics/1836 news
- Interpreter monologue with short, polite responses from guests
- 1970s living history model— interpreter demonstration of 19th century lifeways vs. visitor interaction and participation
- Indicators (list, synthesize, analyze, and explain) of family learning occur most often after contact with an interpreter
- Parents “coach” children in learning, sometimes unsuccessfully
- Interpreter style and ability to engage guests is key to visitor learning
- Engaging the child captures the parent
Opening Doors
2002–2003: Learning study data serves as the catalyst for the design and implementation of Conner Prairie's Opening Doors visitor engagement initiative.Goals::
- Interpretive staff review and respond to learning study data/visitor feedback
- Overhaul historical content-based interpreter training program to emphasize learning theory, visitor engagement, reading guests' interests, communication techniques and visitor comfort
- Encourage interpretive staff to move more freely within interpretive spaces vs. being anchored as a security presence
- Replace post goals with interpretive points (historical themes best suited for a specific staff post) and suggested engagement tools (hands-on and minds-on)
- Adopt “comfort leads to conversation” policy
- Implement “team-based interpretation” empowering interactive staff to make programmatic adjustments and to take on more responsibility for post operations
- Take initial steps to enhance guest orientation
- Improve “youth to youth” interpretation utilizing CP volunteer youth interpreters
Learning Studies— Round 2
2003–2004: Collaborative study with Ball State University— measured changes in guest/interpreter engagement against 2000 benchmark and identified “best practices” in facilitated interpretation for creation of electronic training resources for the field as part of IMLS Project.
Population: family groups with children age six and above
70 families collected (175 hours of data)
What We Learned
Learning conversations occur within the family-interpreter interaction (the dance)
Example:
Interpreter (playing rounders with a young guest): “You're a good catcher.”
Child: “I play baseball.”
Interpreter: “What's baseball, how do you play it?”
Child: “Well first of all....” (child explains baseball to interpreter)
Interpreter: “Have you ever played rounders before?”
Child: “No, but I think that's how they invented baseball (turns to father) Dad, I think before baseball they had rounders!”
- Facilitated experiences moving from monologue to dialogue
- Learning is something that is shared by both the parent and child— the family group becomes a “learning community”
- Visitor-interpreter interaction involves relationship building
- Guests are spending more time interacting with each interpreter, asking more questions and leading to extended learning
Electronic Interpretation Training Resources
Funding from IMLS National Leadership Grant received to:
- Document improved family learning through new approach to facilitated living history experience
- Create electronic training resources (DVD hybrid technology) based on best practices in interpretation and interpreter training documented at Conner Prairie
