|
Learning Science in Informal Environments: A Review of the Research Past, Present, and Future
With sponsorship from The National Science Foundation, The National Research Council (NRC) through the Board on Science Education (BOSE) will conduct a comprehensive synthesis of research on science learning in informal environments. Informal science is a burgeoning field that operates across a broad range of venues (museums, media outlets, state parks, science clubs, after school programs), and envisages learning outcomes for individuals, schools, families, and society. The evidence base that describes informal science, its’ promise and effects is informed by a range of disciplines and perspectives, including field-based research, evaluations, visitor studies, and more traditional psychological studies of learning. While the informal science learning literature is broad and diverse, the evidence base is also splintered.
This consensus study will draw together the disparate informal science literatures, synthesize the state of knowledge, and articulate a common framework for the next generation of research on informal science learning. The NRC will appoint a multidisciplinary committee of 12 to 14 recognized experts in one or more of the following: research and evaluation, exhibit designers, program developers and educators. In addition, the committee will be balanced in terms of experience in the range of venues for informal science: museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, libraries, media enterprises, aquariums, zoos and botanical gardens. This committee, with support from BOSE staff, will survey the literature, deliberate about the evidence, and produce a report.
The expert committee will be tasked with guiding questions, including:
• What is the range of theoretical perspectives, assumptions, and outcomes that characterize research on informal science?
• What assumptions, epistemologies, or modes of learning science are shared between the formal and informal science education environments?
• What evidence is there that learners acquire concepts, ways of thinking, attitudes, and aesthetic appreciation in informal science settings? What kinds of informal learning environments best support learning of current scientific issues and concerns (e.g., global warming)? What are the organizational, social, and affective features of effective informal science learning environments vis-à-vis a range of outcomes?
• Are some learning outcomes unique to informal environments? For example, is there evidence that informal learning environments “reach” learners who have been poorly served by school science (e.g., low SES, minority groups, learning disabled, etc.)?
• What is known about the cumulative effects of science learning across time and contexts? How do learners (young, middle-aged, adolescent, older adults) utilize informal science learning opportunities? How do these opportunities influence learners? Are informal learning experiences designed to suit the developmental trajectories of individuals?
• What information is needed by practitioners in the field? What information is needed by academics seeking to build and enlarge relevant areas of advanced or graduate study? What information is needed by policymakers to effectuate policies that include informal environments within the scope of education directed legislation?
• What are promising directions for future research? Can common frameworks that link the diverse literatures be developed? If so, what would they look like?
The committee will meet five times over the course of this 30-month project. They will develop a conceptual framework for the study, direct the analysis, and author a consensus report that describes the synthesis methodology and the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that emerge.
As a synthesis study focused on learning science, this work will be informed by and complement the National Research Council’s current study of science learning in grades K-8 which focuses on science learning in school settings. With its’ emphasis on learning research, the informal science study also builds on the report, How People Learn (NRC, 2000). The report will be published in early 2008 by the National Academies Press and widely disseminated.
Products:
Meetings:
June 5-7, 2006
September 19-20, 2006
December 13-14, 2006
May 1-2, 2007
October 8-10, 2007
|
Agenda (With Links to Presentations)
Agenda (With Links to Presentations)
Agenda (With Links to Presentations)
Agenda
Closed Meeting (No Agenda available)
|
Committee:
Committee Membership
Staff:
|
