Informal Science Education vs.

Informal Science Education

Dr. Sai Pathmanathan Programme Director, Ignition*

What is informal science education/learning?

Anything learnt outside of the formal curriculum whether in or outside of school

AND/OR

Learning in out-of-school environments?

Where do children learn?

School may be the obvious answer, but although schools may be good at delivering a prescribed curriculum, learning doesnt stop when the bell goes at 4pm: children go home and play, read books, watch television, play computer games and socialise on the internet. All that time theyre learning things that arent necessarily in the National Curriculum. That spontaneous, unstructured learning what the Institute of Education academic Frank Coffield describes as fundamental, necessary and valuable in its own right is often referred to as informal learning.
Its learning but not as we know it. Vision, January-June pp. 9-12 (2009). Bristol: Futurelab.

We only learn 5% of our science from school

so, the other 95% is from? the most important sources of scientific knowledge are not schools; and that the informal infrastructure of museums, aquariums, broadcast programming and other sources of science exposure, with which the United States is richly endowed, is a far more potent source of public understanding of science than has been previously acknowledged.
Falk and Dierking (2010) American Scientist

CAISE (Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education): Informal science education supports people of all ages and walks of life in exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Futurelab: Informal learning: Learning that takes place outside formal educational settings and/or formal educational approaches.

Ignition* a four-year programme of creative science activities and events in the East Midlands aimed at creating and nurturing young champions of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

www.ignitefutures.org.uk/ignition

Come Alive With Science

Lab_13

Come Alive With Science

89% of students said that Come Alive With Science has made a difference to their view of STEM as creative subjects.
92% of parents surveyed said that Come Alive With Science made a difference to their view of STEM subjects as creative and 55% said that it made a great deal of difference. 90% of parents said that Come Alive With Science made a difference to their willingness to encourage their child to study a STEM subject with 55% saying it made a great difference.

Informal Science Education in the UK

www.sciencetolife.org

To the digital native, the analogue becomes wondrous.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/31/ wonder-room-nottingham-university-academy

Making part of the school another world means that you always have somewhere to visit, he says. A room like this offers the opportunity to light upon things rather than be strictured into studying them. He says he has been obsessed with magic since his parents bought him a conjuring set when he was four. I want to use that same sense of wonder to empower the children rather than having them feel they are stupid because they don't yet understand everything they encounter in life.

NUSA Learning Maze

What a wicked way to be enlightened, provoked, puzzled and perplexed

www.scientix.eu

Focus on teachers

cross-border collaboration, school curricula, assessment models, learning resource repositories, teacher training

Scientix European Conference, 6-8 May 2011, Brussels.

http://caise.insci.org
Films and online games, memorable exhibitions, citizen science

Majority of members from museums

http://informalscience.org

Informal Science Education in the US

Are you looking for new ways to teach kids about math and science? SMILE is collecting the best educational materials on the web and creating learning activities, tools, and services all designed especially for those who teach school-aged kids in non-classroom settings.

www.artofsciencelearning.org Scientists, artists, educators, business leaders, researchers and policymakers at three conferences

Acronyms
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics TEMS MST

http://stemtosteam.org

About STEAM: America's ongoing focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as an essential component of national innovation needs art and design to gain STEAM. STEM + Art = STEAM.

THANK YOU.

sai@ignitefutures.org.uk