Entry and Emergent Agendas of Adults Visiting an Aquarium in Family Groups

Understanding visitors' agendas is important in providing insights about learning experiences in informal settings, particularly if we consider learning to be both a product (what they learn) and a process (how they learn it). Accordingly, a handful of studies have investigated the impact of visitors' agendas on learning. However, little attention has been directed to investigating the impact of individual and collective agendas on the nature of the visit experience for the adult members of family groups, or the dynamics and evolution of these agendas during and after a visit to an informal setting. This article examines the roles that personal agendas play in shaping and framing the aquarium experiences of the adult members of 13 family groups visiting the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre in Canada. It explores the dynamic and changing character of entry and emergent agendas within the family group context and the factors that constitute and shape such agendas. The roles of these agendas in the overall on-site learning experience of the adult members of the participating family groups, and the longitudinal impact of the aquarium visit are further discussed.