Models and discourse: A primary school science class visit to a museum

A critical incident is viewed as an event which is sufficiently coherent and apparently significant, as reflected in the discourse which takes place between individuals in a group, to permit inferences to be made about the formation, use, and development of mental models. This approach was used to analyze the discourse which took place during a visit by a class of 8–9-year-olds to a gallery concerned with food at the Science Museum, London. Data were collected by observation and interview before, during, and after the visit. Events that lead to the initiation, continuation, and closure of discourse were identified, broad classifications produced, and inferences made about their impact on pupils' mental models. The conditions which produced evidence of mental engagement with exhibits included: The linking of the visit to the curriculum currently being followed at school; the pupils' being able to follow their own itinerary in the museum; the pupils being able to work in small friendship groups; the accompanying of each group by an adult with some knowledge about the topic of the exhibits. It is suggested that a critical incident approach may be helpful more generally in analyzing the learning which takes place in groups. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 81:749–762, 1997.