2. Methods

During the initial field trip experience, children did not ask and were not asked any questions. The following day, the two groups separately met with their teachers and reviewed what they remembered about the previous day's trip. Group A, to whom the information was newer, were questioned in a more categorical, information-based manner; group B had a more free-form associative memory session.

Questions to group A were "leading," as in: "What did the movie say about Saturn? What are the big planets called? What are the rocky midgets?" Questioning was done in the same order that information was presented in the film; the planets were discussed in their order of closeness to the sun. Discussion of Earth was not allotted much time, since Group A had been studying the Earth while the other children studied the planets.

Group B was asked, "What do you remember about yesterday's field trip? What did you like the best?" All of the children were afterward offered the option of drawing a picture about the previous day's trip.

Three weeks later, the children were again questioned about the experience, on an individual basis. Usually over a game of some type, the child was asked, "Do you remember the field trip we took a while ago to the planetarium?" They were then asked what the movie they had seen had been about, what they remembered about it, and what they had enjoyed the most about the trip. They were asked details of planets which they had mentioned in the first discussion; if they had not mentioned a planet (or other astronomical feature), they were asked about what they had previously named as their favorite part of the trip, and which planet was their favorite.

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