Percepciones, creencias y actitudes del estudiantado de los grados de educación hacia los museos como recurso didáctico

Introduction: There is growing interest in the pedagogical potential of museums as learning spaces, despite the fact that recent studies indicate that future teachers have little knowledge in the educational work of these institutions. Method: In this study, 761 students from the University of Valladolid undergraduate programs in early childhood, primary and social education participated. A questionnaire-based method was used to evaluate the knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of these students about museums. The “Attitudes towards Museums Scale” is used for the evaluation of attitudes. A three-phase analysis is developed: a first descriptive phase, followed by an exploratory factor analysis on a first subsample, and a confirmatory factor analysis on the second subsample during the third phase. Results: Students show a medium-low interest in visiting museums, with experiences that are not very motivating for their education. They conceive museum activities as a resource for the classroom, thinking that they help to form a critical citizenship, to increase cultural knowledge, social participation, motivation and the transmission of symbolic and identity values. Students value that teachers play a relevant role both in the organization and design of the visit to the museum, during the experience, encouraging debate and reflection, and afterwards, collecting information on student learning. Conclusions: The scale used to evaluate attitude of education students towards museums as an educational resource proves to be a valid and reliable tool.