JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 51, NO. 4, PP. 407–429 (2014) Research Article Communicating Science to Students: Investigating Professional Botanic Garden Educators’ Talk During Guided School Visits Junqing Zhai 1 and Justin Dillon 2 1 College of Education, Zhejiang University, Tianmushan Road, Hangzhou 310028, China 2 Department of Education and Professional Studies, King’s College London, Waterloo Road, London SE1 9NH, United Kingdom Received 6 March 2013; Accepted 30 December 2013 Abstract: Botanic gardens are popular destinations for school visits to learn about plant-based science. However, little is known about teaching and learning in such settings, in particular about school visits guided by professional botanic garden educators (BGEs). The purpose of this study was to identify the pedagogical moves of the BGEs during guided school visits. More specifically, this study follows a qualitative research design, investigating six elementary school groups (7- to 11-years old) guided by three BGEs. The guided visits were videotaped and the transcripts analyzed in order to find out the patterns of the BGE and student discourse. The findings from this study indicate that although BGE-student dialogic interactions occasionally occurred, a non-interactive/authoritative communicative approach was the more common practice of the BGEs when communicating science to students. However, the components of storytelling and the use of analogies identified have a great potential for enriching the explanatory talk of the BGEs. The results of this study suggest that the dynamics of discourse during guided school visits were shaped by both the BGEs and students through the shift of power during this discourse. # 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 407–429, 2014 Keywords: school visit; botanic garden; informal educator; discourse Recent research has indicated that school educational excursions to informal settings have a positive impact on students’ cognitive learning, affective maturation and social development (DeWitt & Storksdieck, 2008; Rennie, 2007). As one of the most popular informal settings for organized school visits, botanic gardens are “living museums” of plants where students acquire practical biological knowledge, develop horticultural skills, learn to appreciate the natural environment and develop a sense of sustainability (Braund & Reiss, 2006). Every year, in the United Kingdom, each of the 130 or more botanic gardens throughout the country accommodate a substantial number of visiting school groups to support their study of plants and many of these are guided by professional botanic garden educators (BGEs). 1 The most common reason for teachers taking their students to informal science institutions is to enhance ideas within the curriculum or to provide enrichment beyond it, thus expecting students to learn content and increase their motivation to study science (Kisiel, 2005; Tal & Steiner, 2006). However, a growing number of studies have shown that learning opportunities during school visits Contract grant sponsor: King’s College London. Correspondence to: Junqing Zhai; E-mail: junqing.zhai@gmail.com DOI 10.1002/tea.21143 Published online 30 January 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). # 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.