Participant-Led Photography as a Mediating Tool in Object-Oriented Learning in a Museum

This case study aims to develop a conceptual framework for learning in museums, in which digital photography used as a tool to study museum artifacts constitutes an integral part of participatory practices. Participant-led photography was used to study and analyze how teacher education students (N = 20) used digital cameras as tools in object-oriented learning during museum visits. The content analysis of 753 students' photographs and photographic episodes from video data of museum visits provided a picture of the ways in which students used their cameras to mediate their relationship with the museum's artifacts and with each other and revealed how the students collectively advanced their understanding of the museum artifacts beyond grasping surface features to involve knowledge-seeking explanations of inquiry questions of their own design. The results encourage educators to trust in students' agency, ideas, and efforts in creating knowledge around shared objects and to use the technology that students already possess and know.