Inquiry and Learning in Informal Settings

Informal learning institutions like zoos, aquariums, science centers, and botanic gardens are popular among the American public. Many offer science-related activities, suggesting an “ecology” of sites varying in degree with regards to science and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) learning in general. Understanding public perceptions of the STEM learning ecology can inform decisions about increasing STEM literacy in the United States. The current qualitative study used interactive workshops to understand the public’s perceptions of zoos and aquariums (Z/As) in particular, compared to other settings, for their potential to support STEM learning. Visitors identified a wide range of settings in institutions and their everyday lives where they experienced STEM learning opportunities. The primary STEM discipline they encountered was science, even though the opportunities were not explicit. They also recognized that these settings offer the potential for learning about technology, engineering, and math through staff facilitation. They distinguished Z/As from other cultural organizations because of opportunities to learn about science as it related to animals. Implications for STEM learning in informal settings are discussed for its potential to engage the public in STEM outside of the formal education context.

Children spend most of their time in out-of-school settings. As a result, informal learning settings can play a significant role in children’s learning development. Museums and science centers are informal settings that are intentionally designed to promote learning and interest development. Learning in these settings is highly participant structured. Participants’ interaction with each other and exhibits can direct their learning and understanding of the presented topics. Also, studies show that these settings are where children begin to develop competencies, skills, knowledge and problem-solving processes that support participation in STEM-related careers. For example, many engineering exhibits have been designed for children to promote their engineering skills and practices as well as their understanding of engineering careers. One engineering practice is troubleshooting; trouble-shooting is a practice used in many aspects of engineering work, including design, analysis and programming. We situate this study in the engineering design literature as the task that our participants engaged in was an engineering design task. The research literature suggests that expert engineers engage in diagnostic troubleshooting which includes focusing on problematic areas of the potential solutions, defining the cause of a problem, and proposing ways of fixing it. However, beginning designers tend to be unfocused and uncritical when looking at the performance of their prototype which would lead to a poor and flawed design. In this study, we focused on children’s engagement in troubleshooting throughout an engineering design activity. Previous studies have referred to children as natural engineers who take similar engineering process as experts. Hence, in this study, we examined ways children engage in troubleshooting and compared them with what previous studies showed about the ways expert and beginner engineers troubleshoot their designs. To do so, we asked 7-11 years old children with their caregivers to design a pneumatic ball run using pneumatic pistons in 30 minutes. The video data of 10 cases were then analyzed using an a priori codebook. We found that the children were mostly engaged in troubleshooting after testing the whole or segments of the ball run. Troubleshooting was observed very often due to the immediate feedback they received (i.e., falling the ball means a problem). In addition, while examples of children acting like beginner engineers were observed, most of the cases were involved in diagnostic troubleshooting.

Background Informal science learning environments, such as science centres, provide unique opportunities for students to engage in conceptual understanding through interactive and multimodal experiences. However, without structured support, student engagement may remain superficial in those environments. To help students engage in activities in science centres, such support can be provided through metacognitive regulation activities that play important roles in promoting deeper learning. Although these internal processes are difficult to observe, eye‐tracking technologies and metacognitive‐focused worksheets (MoWs) may offer promising ways to externalise and analyse students' self‐regulatory strategies in real‐world settings. Objectives This study aimed to explore how MoWs in combination with mobile eye‐tracking technology support and monitor metacognitive engagement and conceptual understanding of 7th grade students during collaborative learning in science centres. The study focused on three scientific topics: work and energy, mirrors and light absorption and the solar system and beyond. Methods Using a multiple case study design, data were collected from 72 seventh grade students participating in peer‐to‐peer collaborative learning sessions at two different science centres. Data sources included recordings from eye‐tracking sessions, video observations and student‐generated responses on MoWs. A multimodal data triangulation approach was used to identify metacognitive behaviours aligned with the orientation, planning, monitoring and evaluating phases. Coding schemes were developed and refined through iterative analysis of gaze data, verbal discourse and behavioural indicators. Results The findings suggest that MoWs can support students in these specific settings to activate prior knowledge, plan in real time and collaboratively monitor and evaluate their own learning. Monitoring was the most frequently observed metacognitive behaviour, followed by orienting and evaluating. Eye‐tracking data revealed shared patterns of visual attention, gaze synchronisation and strategic information processing during collaboration. Students' correct use of scientific concepts also varied across subjects. The highest accuracy was observed in the solar system and beyond unit , while the highest misunderstandings were found to be related to mirrors and light absorption . Implications This study demonstrates the value of integrating MoWs and eye‐tracking technology as learning and analytical tools to support and analyse students' metacognitive regulation in informal learning settings. The findings provide practical insights for designing structured yet flexible learning activities that encourage deeper cognitive engagement and promote conceptual understanding in science education. The study also attempts to make a methodological contribution to the field by proposing a gaze‐based framework for assessing metacognitive processes in authentic, collaborative learning environments.

Conventional approaches to vocational education and training (VET) globally are inadequate to meet either present or future needs. They are based on assumptions about VET being inferior to academic education and that only those who cannot get into academic education would pursue vocational learning. They assume that formal vocational learning is the only or main form of vocational learning and that formal VET graduates will transition into formal sector jobs concentrated largely around metals, motors and manufacturing. None of this is true. In Africa, most people are working and learning in informal settings. Many have a powerful vocational impulse. Even many of the poorest are using digital technologies for their learning. Moreover, a focus on skills to produce more is pushing us further and further beyond the boundaries for the safe operating of this planet. In response, this book focuses on social skills ecosystems in which a range of actors come together to negotiate skills needs, including in informal and rural settings and in the production of skills for the maintenance and replenishing of the natural resource nexus. This focus highlights the complexity of interactions in local and horizontal relationships between actor-citizens in a place and the often top-down and disabling actions of states trying to do development to subject-recipients.

We narrate a qualitative descriptive study on the translation of the pedagogical model of primary school seamless science inquiry learning (SSIL), originally with the mandatory requirement of 1:1 (one-mobile-device-per-student) and 24 × 7 (24 h a day, 7 days a week) setting, to a more scalable and sustainable model that fits the conditions of typical schools in Singapore and elsewhere. Seamless learning as a hybrid learning model refers to a continuous, holistic learning process across learning contexts, such as formal and informal learning settings, individual and collaborative learning, and learning in both the physical and digital realms. We discuss the adaptation of the SSIL model which remove the constraint of the requirement of one device per student and its implementation in three schools over the duration of two academic years. Through a process of scaffolding by the researchers, as manifested by five pedagogical design principles known as C2FIP (Connectivity, socio-Constructivist learning, Formative assessment, leveraging resources in Informal settings, Personalised learning), primary science teachers were empowered to design good SSIL lesson plans that adhered to techno-pedagogical design principles. Data analysis showed teacher growth in designing and implementing SSIL lessons and evidence of student learning.KeywordsSeamless learningDesign principlesDiffusion of innovationsScience inquiry learning

It is often assumed that because the current generation of students is more technologically competent than previous generations, they would prefer to use technology for both formal and informal learning. The results of a series of empirical studies indicated that students in formal settings preferred face-to-face contact with their instructors and used Web 2.0 tools for communication and to complete specific class assignments; in their personal lives, these technologies were used for communication, music and video downloads, and online gaming. Although students did not use social networking in their classes, the use of these tools may provide educators with an alternative to course management systems. Results from a community sample indicated a preference towards using the Internet for information gathering, and even though respondents reported that the incorporation of social networking sites in informal education settings would be nice, it was not expected. Overall, both student and community participants utilized technology that was familiar to them. Thus, assuming technological competence in our students and implementing various technological applications in the classroom may be counterproductive if guidance and training are not provided.

Self-regulation with respect to informal learning

There are pedagogical shifts in learning where self-educated are being encouraged to be active in their own learning. Educational research increasingly recognizes the fact that a significant amount of learning is happening in the informal settings. Furthermore, due to the proliferation of varieties of products, consumers need to be educated with relevant information of the products in the informal settings. Cultural background, health reasons and religious inclinations are considered influencing factors to the decision on whether to consume or not. As such, relevant information such as ingredients of the food products may provide strong inclination on the decision to purchase. Thus, consumers may benefit from mobile learning in informal setting (e.g., scanning codes to obtain further information of the ingredient of the product). Thus, the main objective of this study is to design Halal-Checker Mobile Application by using agile user centered design. Agile user centered design is the integration of User-Centered Design and agile methods. The Human Computer Interaction (HCI) technique and agile approach adapted are Contextual Design Model, User Personas and extreme programming. The results shown in this study are, (i) contextual design model and user personas and (ii) development of Halal-checker mobile application prototype using extreme programming. Future work may involve including more HCI techniques and agile approaches together in the agile user centered design methodology to improve the quality of the digital mobile artifacts.

This study examined the effects of two pedagogical training approaches on parent-child dyads’ discussion of scientific content in an informal museum setting. Forty-seven children (mean age = 5.43) and their parents were randomly assigned to training conditions where an experimenter modeled one of two different pedagogical approaches when interacting with the child and a science-based activity: (1) a scientific inquiry-based process or (2) a scientific statement-sharing method. Both approaches provided the same information about scientific mechanisms but differed in the process through which that content was delivered. Immediately following the training, parents were invited to model the same approach with their child with a novel science-based activity. Results indicated significant differences in the process through which parents prompted discussion of the targeted information content: when talking about causal scientific concepts, parents in the scientific inquiry condition were significantly more likely to pose questions to their child than parents in the scientific statements condition. Moreover, children in the scientific inquiry condition were marginally more responsive to parental causal talk and provided significantly more scientific content in response. These findings provide initial evidence that training parents to guide their children using scientific inquiry-based approaches in informal learning settings can encourage children to participate in more joint scientific conversations.

Stereotypes tend to pervade the debates on Chinese parents’ expectation of their children’s academic achievement and if or how they value play. Yet little is known about the relationship between play and concept formation, as well as how play and conceptual learning are set up through specific activity settings in Chinese families. Vygotsky’s (1966) concept of play is the creation of an imaginary situation. From this point of view, children’s engagement in play may largely be directed towards a process of abstraction and generalization of the meaning, which is in the essence of concept formation (Vygotsky, 1987a, 1987b). This study is aimed at investigating the links between play and young children’s concept formation in Chinese families. This study adopted an in-depth qualitative case study following the dialectical-interactive approach within the cultural-historical paradigm. Four parents and two children (a boy and a girl) participated from two families (with only one child in each) in Mainland China. The children were around three years at the beginning of this study. The two participating families were recruited through educators in a public kindergarten, and were intentionally selected considering their similar socio-economic status. The data were collected over two main observation periods (3.5 months and 3 months with an interval of 10 months) through digital video observations of children’s participation in everyday family activities (especial family play), videoed parent interviews and parents’ participated filming of the activities they are valued. The analysis of data has been carried out by means of three main levels of interpretations, namely, common sense interpretation, situated practice interpretation, and interpretation on a thematic level (Hedegaard, 2008c) in order to get rich and comprehensive understanding of children’s everyday family practices in relation to play and learning within Chinese cultural context. This thesis is conducted in the format of a thesis by publication. The important study results are reported through the four publications. Overall, the study finds that the shared imaginary situation between parents and a child in family collective play provides the conditions for the child’s concept formation. The shared sustained imaginary situation created through family collective play shows its importance in a child’s motive orientation towards parents’ valued conceptual learning (Publication 1), in the child’s potential conscious awareness of certain scientific phenomenon (Publication 2), in mediating the child’s conceptual thinking through sharable pretend signs (Publication 3) and in fostering the child’s exploration of the ideal descriptions of certain conceptual rules (Publication 4). The findings indicate that children’s family collective play is in relation to their concept formation in Chinese families. In this study it has been demonstrated that play has its role in creating the potential (or ZPD) of a child’s concept formation. A new conception of children’s imaginative play and its role in their concept formation has been synthesized, which provides extended understanding of Vygotsky’s concept of play. Methodologically, this study is evident in how meaningful the cultural-historical approach can frame the study to investigate a child’s process and mechanism of concept formation during family play. In addition, this study provides the local knowledge in relation to the links between play and learning in informal settings, which pedagogically contributes to how play can be understood and utilized in informal settings in early childhood education.

All-­day schools serving children from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. four times a week are still uncommon in Switzerland. In trying to implement an all-­day school schedule, teachers and social workers are requested to cooperate professionally during the day. A current study looks at the multi-­professional cooperation in order to clarify responsibilities and expectations. The results are based on interviews with two teachers and two social workers that were analysed by using hermeneutic sociology of knowledge. It becomes evident that the parental absence is used to legitimate the own profession. Informal learning settings, where the stakeholders need to act and think together beyond their traditional roles and where lines of responsibility are not as well-­demarcated as in formal learning settings, the potential for conflict among the stakeholders is the greatest.

AbstractMany informal science educational programs aim to help students improve their understanding of science. Little research, however, has focused specifically on the direct experiences and subsequent ideas of culturally and linguistically diverse girls when they engage with science in informal learning settings. The research described in this report explores young Latinas' ideas about science in the context of an informal bilingual summer science camp at an aquarium. We relied on identity theory for analyzing participation in camp activities as well as characterizations about science. This research report provides an analysis of two girls, Victoria and Lupe, (part of a larger data set of participants) who attended the camp for three consecutive summers and who took leadership roles in their third year. We produced case studies to offer a rich description of individual student experience. Such detail is difficult to capture in large-scale surveys or single aquarium visits. The comparative case study approach provides evidence that Victoria and Lupe, despite similar upbringing and schooling, had very different ideas about science. We also found that the bilingual teaching of science in the camp was very important to bridging the girls' lives in camp, school, and home. We offer suggestions for museum programming based on our findings.

Studies of children’s learning with family and friends give us insight into how children can learn beyond the classroom. The learning process is often characterised by autonomy, choosing what they learn, curiosity, interest and enjoyment, interactions and conversations with friends, and operating at their own pace and in their chosen way. The argument is that ways of learning science outside school can inform a framework to enhance school science experiences. Evidence in the chapter is drawn from research on learning in informal settings, studies located in web-mediated environments and project based activities.

This study analysed 498 articles published between 2005 and 2023 on Self-regulated Language Learning (SRLL) indexed in the core collection of the Web of Science database, using a bibliometric methodology based on scientific mapping, co-occurrence and burstness analysis. Results show China is the most influential contributor to SRLL research, with the largest number of total publications and citations. According to the keyword co-occurrence and burstness analysis, mobile-learning, higher education, learning context, learner strategies stand out in this field. It is also shown that listening as a significant linguistic skill is less explored in the SRLL field. It is proven that learners' language skills could be improved through mobile-assisted collaborative learning in informal settings. By identifying the developmental patterns in SRLL research, this paper can guide future researchers to explore in-depth the significant issues in this field and bring insight for further SRLL studies in terms of themes, pedagogy and methodologies.

Characterising Learning in Informal Settings Using Deep Learning with Network Data