Post-observation conversations in the museum: using the self-evaluation of the supervisee as the starting point

Post-observation conversations are often used to discuss the quality of teaching and education; however, little is known about the use of this method for the evaluation of teaching in museums. Drawing on interviews, in the first research question, we explored how museum guides (n = 14) and educators (n = 8) perceived a post-observation conversation when they used the guide's self-evaluation as the starting point. This is in contrast to the educator (observation) directed conversations that currently prevail in the participating museums, all located in the Netherlands. For the second research question, we coded seven conversations in order to investigate the guides’ and educators’ actual participation. Results indicate that guides felt a sense of ownership; furthermore, the participants evaluated the conversations as more equally balanced. Analysis of the conversations confirmed that there was a balanced interaction and that the guides greatly influenced the conversation's content

Dutch students’ understanding of the interpretative nature of textbooks when comparing two texts about a significant event in the development of democracy

In history education, the deconstruction of narratives is an important skill for students. The skill teaches them to look critically at the offered texts. In this study, we investigated the extent to which students are able to critically analyse the narratives in their history textbooks. To answer this question, we asked 106 students in pre-university education (16–17 years of age) to read and compare two texts – from two different textbooks – about a turning point in the development of the Dutch state and democracy: the introduction of universal suffrage for men and women in 1917–19. One group of students (N=10) worked on the assignment while thinking aloud. We found that most students recognized the author’s voice in the selection of persons and dates and in the attention paid to a particular topic, but that they hardly mentioned recognizing the voice in aspects such as the choice of words or headings. The students who analysed and compared the texts while thinking aloud all indicated after the assignment that they understood that these texts are different interpretations of the same historical development