Tour guides as facilitators of learning under field trips

Abstract

Students embark on museum field trips with the goal of having enjoyable and educational experiences outside of the traditional classroom setting. This study investigated how museum tour guides helped primary school children in Zimbabwe learn school curriculum content while on field excursions. The study employed qualitative research approaches where a sample of conveniently chosen 320 school children, 12 teachers, and 40 museum tour guides was used. It is revealed that there are three different categories of tour guides that are found in Zimbabwean museums and these are: evangelists, dictators, and benevolent demonstrators. It was discovered that students go on field trips in order to engage with and learn about the curriculum. According to the investigation, nine (9) tour guides were classified as benevolent demonstrators, ten (10) as dictators, and twenty-one (21) as evangelists. It was shown that evangelist and dictator tour guides hindered effective learning because they treated students like epistemic slaves. During field visits, benevolent demonstrators used active techniques of content delivery to encourage effective learning. According to the study’s findings, most tour guides fall short when it comes to promoting effective learning, and they should receive pedagogy and customer service training.