Investigating problem-posing during math walks in informal learning spaces.

형평성 관련 비형식 과학 학습 및 교육 연구 경향 탐색 : 네트워크 분석법의 다학제적 적용

In mathematics learning, students need a cognitive domain that is supported by an equivalent affective domain. One of the factors students can master or like math is that they must have an interest and curiosity in learning mathematics. Interest of students can solve mathematics problems more efficiently. The combination of affinity and interest in learning mathematics will form a positive attitude which is often called a mathematical disposition. Mathematical disposition is students’ beliefs and attitudes about mathematics that support the tendency to see mathematics as reasonable and useful as well as the role he or she believes diligence plays in solving mathematical tasks. SOLO taxonomy can be classified into five levels ranging from simple to high levels, pre-structural, uni-structural, multi-structural, relational, and extended abstract. This study uses descriptive qualitative research that has the purpose of describing level response of students who have high, medium, and low mathematical disposition categories. The subjects in this study were senior high school students in the City of Kediri with a purposive sampling technique in a class of 35 students and obtained three subjects which represent every category of mathematical disposition. The results of this study are (1) Student with high mathematical disposition is at the extended abstract level, (2) Student with medium mathematical disposition is at the multi-structural level, (3) Student with low mathematical disposition is at the pre-structural level.

This article reports a case study on a popular informal science learning community via social media in China, named GuoKr (meaning “nutshell” in English). Data were collected through a variety of Chinese social media and social networking sites, web-based community portals, and discussion boards. Content analyses and data mining were conducted to investigate how GuoKr successfully attracted and engaged public in informal learning on scientific topics in particular. The study found three key characteristics that contributed to the success of such learning communities: (a) utilizing a variety of social media to empower participants with just-in-time, accidental learning opportunities; (b) daily tweets related to emerging or ongoing social events or hot topics to provide brief but intriguing knowledge “bites”, which often leads to extended readings and related resources; and (c) the integration of social media and traditional face-to-face local events to engage the public in science-related learning and knowledge sharing. Practical and research implications are discussed with suggestions for future research as related to ubiquitous learning communities for informal science learning.

Formal and informal online learning spaces have evolved into important sources of knowledge that are accessible to many, require limited mobility, and provide ubiquitous learning opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has led to a major jump in the increase of online learning to make learning available, accessible, and possible to the diverse learner population globally. Reducing the gender divide in access to knowledge and information has been the goal of many initiatives, and understanding how access has evolved and improved women’s opportunities to learn and be empowered is key to analyze the changing society. Women are empowered when they have access to learning and access is enhanced through the use of formal and informal online learning spaces and programs. With the knowledge gained, women’s capability is boosted with informed choices, active roles in the workforce, advancement in academics, and increased participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. Online learning can encourage and motivate women to actively participate in social or cultural movements as well as modify their roles as childbearers, caregivers, and home managers. Women empowerment and gender equality has been the focus of research for decades, but with the rise and availability of ubiquitous learning possibilities, women empowerment through the utilization of online learning opportunities is becoming an area that has much need for understanding. In the past, women were more passive about their marginalized position in society. However, women in the 21st century are more aware and active, and are disrupting their marginalized status with their increased use of digital spaces and online learning possibilities. They explore different sources of knowledge and information and join in different online education opportunities for formal and informal learning. Women not only empower themselves with the exploration of online resources but also others when they teach online, actively share information on social media, and participate in online discussion forums.

The importance of increasing and widening participation in post-compulsory science and informal science learning (ISL) spaces is widely recognized—particularly for working-class and minority ethnic communities. While there is a growing understanding of the intersection of femininity with class, ethnicity, and science learning across formal and informal settings, there has been little work on how masculinity may shape urban boys’ science (non)participation and (dis)engagement. This article analyzes performances of masculinity enacted by 36 urban, working-class boys (from diverse ethnic backgrounds) during school science museum visits, exploring how these performances relate to science identity and engagement. We identify three main performances of masculinity enacted during the visits (“laddishness,” “muscular intellect,” and “translocational masculinity”), and trace the implications of each for boys’ science engagement. We consider the power implications of these performances, notably the extent to which hegemonic masculinity is normalized within the science museum space, the ways in which this normalization is co-constitutive of the boys’ performances of masculinity, and the implications of the boys’ performances of masculinity for other students (notably girls and less dominant boys). The article concludes with implications for research, policy, and practice regarding how to promote equitable participation and science learning within ISL.

Families commonly document their outings by capturing their experiences through digital photographs and videos. However, little is known about the ways in which families engage their personal mobile devices to document educational family outings and how they subsequently talk about the digital artifacts that captured their informal learning experiences. This paper presents new evidence on family digital artifact creation during an informal science institution (ISI) visit, the expected and actual uses of their digital artifacts after the visit, and family conversations reminiscing about the ISI visit with the digital artifacts. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed‐methods design, data on family digital artifact creation during an aquarium visit (N = 204) and digital artifact use after the visit (n = 67) were collected using parent surveys. Audio‐recorded parent‐child conversations with a subset of families (n = 25) document whether and how families use their digital artifacts to reminisce about the aquarium visit. Quantitative findings detail family digital technology practices during informal learning experiences, and qualitative findings suggest evidence of informal science learning in the everyday interactions of the families who elected to continue the study. The study indicates that family storytelling and digital technology practices may help to bridge informal science learning from ISI to home and frames family non‐participation within an anti‐deficit perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to study the development of high school students’ English language ability from the perspective of informal learning. The results of the study show that, theoretically, informal learning can indeed improve high school students’ English listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, English language awareness and sense of language, and cross-cultural communication ability. Simultaneously, the results of the questionnaire survey show that high school students’ informal learning on English language ability may result in normative, continuity, and bias problems. In view of these problems, the paper proposes optimization strategies from the perspectives of correctly orientating the role of high school English teachers, perfecting the organizations and shaping the culture of English informal learning in high schools. The paper contributes to guiding how high school students can improve their English language ability through informal learning and how to play the roles of schools and teachers in it.

Despite the ubiquity of smartphones, no studies to date have investigated family smartphone practices in informal learning environments, notwithstanding museum app studies. Yet, the importance of parent-child interactions for children’s informal learning is well-established. This multi-method pilot study described whether and how families used smartphones during informal learning, assessed fidelity of parental self-reported smartphone use, and compared the quantity and quality of parent-child conversations by smartphone use. Participants were 79 children and parents at a local aquarium. Parents self-reported demographics, amount of smartphone use, and verbal engagement with child. With a subset of families, researchers used systematic observations to document smartphone use and parent-child engagement and audio recording for parent-child conversations. The authors assessed conversation quality by coding verbatim transcripts for parent and child responsiveness and contingency. Triangulation of measures revealed that parents underreported and underestimated their device use. Fifty-five percent of families used a smartphone, primarily for photo and video documentation. More smartphone-using adults reported off-topic talk than did smartphone-free adults (p = .001), and the more parents used their smartphones, the less contingent were their conversations (p = .004). That parents and children were less contingent, and thus less sensitive, at the turn-by-turn conversational level adds to the scarce microanalytic work demonstrating how parent smartphone use impacts the moment-to-moment interactions of parents and children. Such differences in the quantity and quality of language interactions have important implications for the developmental and educational trajectories of children whose families vary in degree of smartphone use during informal learning opportunities.

In recent decades, educators and policymakers in the United States have increased their focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning opportunities both in school and in informal learning environments outside of school. Informal STEM learning can take place in varied settings and involves a variety of STEM domains (e.g., engaging in engineering practices in a construction exhibit at a museum; talking about math during book reading at home). Here we provide a selective review of the literature on informal STEM learning to illustrate how these educational experiences are crucial for efforts to increase early STEM learning even before children reach school age. Leveraging cognitive and learning science research to inform policy, we make three recommendations to advance the impact of informal STEM learning: 1) integrate cognitive and learning science–based learning practices into informal learning contexts, 2) increase accessibility and diversity of informal STEM experiences, and 3) create explicit connections and coherence between formal and informal STEM learning opportunities in early childhood education.

Mathematical disposition is an affective aspect that plays an important role in determining students' success in mathematics learning. However, it has relatively received less attention in the practical implementation of learning at the junior high school level. Mathematics learning tends to emphasize cognitive and procedural aspects, so that students' attitudes, interests, and positive tendencies toward mathematics have not developed optimally. This study aims to explore the mathematical disposition of junior high school students through an ethnomathematics approach based on the local culture of Padangsidimpuan. The study uses a mixed-method approach with an exploratory design. The subjects of the study were eighth-grade students at SMP Negeri 8 in Padangsidimpuan City. Data were collected through a mathematical disposition questionnaire, in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and documentation. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The results show that the integration of local cultural contexts into mathematics learning can foster positive mathematical dispositions, especially in aspects of self-confidence, perseverance, interest, and appreciation for mathematics. These findings emphasize that ethnomathematics not only functions as a learning context but also as a means of shaping students' mathematical attitudes and values. This study recommends strengthening the ethnomathematics approach as part of a mathematics learning strategy that focuses on the development of the affective domain of junior high school students.

The importance of teacher performance in improving achievement to determine the quality of education and school performance, This study is an Exploratory Sequential mixed method design study. aims to influence leadership, work motivation, and organizational culture on teacher performance and achievement, both partially and simultaneously with Exploratory Sequential Design . This approach combines qualitative and quantitative methods, starting with an in-depth exploration of the factors that influence the effectiveness of teacher work performance, followed by testing the quantitative model. This research was conducted at SMP Negeri 3 Numfor Barat in a remote area. To achieve the objectives of this study, the researcher applied Exploratory Sequential mixed method design research with a case study approach . In the qualitative stage, the research data was collected through observation, in-depth interviews with 1 head of educational unit and 10 subject teachers, and document analysis to identify needs, challenges, and best practices in management. The research data was processed through the stages of data collection, data presentation, data reduction, and data conclusion drawing. To ensure the validity of the research data, the researcher conducted data confirmation and credibility by involving the Education Office for the development of educational resources and school supervisors. The results of the study indicate that: (1) the teacher training management model in improving work performance that has been implemented in remote areas consists of the planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating stages. (2) The function of the teacher training management model in improving work performance that has been implemented in remote areas runs effectively and efficiently. The results of this study provide important information for the government, school supervisors, principals and teachers. leadership, work motivation, and organizational culture simultaneously have a positive and significant effect on teacher work performance.

on the Research Topic Informal STEM learning at home and in community spaces This Research Topic investigates how children's authentic, everyday experiences provide opportunities for STEM learning and engagement. Providing children with equitable opportunities to engage in, learn, and flex their STEM skills is critical because STEM drives new innovations across disciplines, accelerates discoveries, and finds creative ways to solve big challenges now and in the future (Fenechel and Schweingruber, 2010; Archer et al., 2022) . But, what do we mean by informal STEM learning? We define "learning" broadly to include traditional definitions that focus on knowledge change and conceptual understanding, but we also include other areas supporting learning and connected to a more expansive definition, such as interest, engagement, and identity (see Fenechel and Schweingruber, 2010, for a detailed discussion). But why informal learning, in particular? This area is important because children spend only around 5% of their lives learning in formal settings (Falk and Dierking, 2010) . Of that time, children are estimated to spend ∼142 h per year in math instruction (nearly half of what is spent on Language Arts instruction; Phelps et al., 2012) and only a small portion of formal instructional time is spent learning about science (Falk and Dierking, 2010). Thus, the possibilities and opportunities for learning STEM skills outside of these traditional settings are substantial. We proposed this Research Topic because despite significant interest in informal learning, particularly in STEM, the research is often disseminated through disparate journals, conferences and other outlets, which do not always share contributors or audiences. This Research Topic is an attempt to aggregate research from multiple fields that share overlapping interests and allow scholars from different fields to share their research in one place. The Research Topic explores unique opportunities to increase participation in STEM activities by sparking children's interest in science, providing meaningful connections to their lives, engaging children and their caregivers, and promoting STEM identities, or the belief that one can participate in STEM, whether inside or outside of the classroom or STEM "pipeline". The articles in this Research Topic investigate three key issues: (a) investigating how and where informal STEM learning occurs, (2) innovations in the measurement of informal learning, and (3) interventions to increase engagement in and knowledge related to STEM.

This thesis explores the contributions of informal learning to the professional development of secondary school leaders in Cyprus. The research questions focus on the ways school leaders learn to lead, the contributions of informal learning to their professional development and the ways informal learning could be incorporated into a holistic professional development programme for school leaders. The study uses an expanded Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Design, in which priority is given to the qualitative aspect of the study (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). First, interviews with educators with multiple leadership roles were implemented, followed by a survey using a questionnaire developed from the qualitative phase. After this, a new qualitative phase employing interviews with experienced headteachers was used as an evaluation stage, to confirm or not the findings from the previous phases. The main findings reveal the ways in which secondary school leaders in Cyprus learn how to lead, namely through reflection, through a socialisation process, by sharing examples of good practice, by using informal apprenticeships, through incidental learning and through self-directed learning. Informal learning seems to facilitate the development of professional identity and school leaders’ qualities/characteristics to address successfully the complexities of headship. Moreover, this research study provides a discussion regarding the importance of the degree of formality in structuring learning processes, employing The Formality-Informality Model, and proposes a Blended-Learning Model for the Professional Development of School Leaders, which can guide the construction of a relevant professional development programme. This study further suggests that fostering a school leaders’ community of practice (Wenger, 1998) could be a starting point for enhancing a leadership culture throughout the Cyprus Educational System. Finally, a New Leadership Professional Development Framework for School Leaders in Cyprus is proposed, which can facilitate the holistic professional development of secondary school leaders in Cyprus.

Dedicated science learning spaces such as science museums, science cafes, or science media attract mostly those who seek out science learning experiences. This self-selection represents a major challenge for broadening participation in informal science learning (ISL). In this study, we examine an approach to ISL that aims at reaching audiences who may not ordinarily engage with science. Termed Guerilla Science, this approach blends elements of access, by removing barriers to participation by embedding science into unexpected places, with those of inclusion, by designing activities that speak to the learning identities of participants. Our research investigated whether such ISL experience are indeed able to attract and engage ‘new’ audiences. In this study, Guerilla Science events were featured at the Oregon Eclipse Festival, a large multi-day music and arts festival. We conducted a multi-method study that included participants of the Oregon Eclipse Festival who engaged with Guerilla Science events, and those who did not, with a focus of understanding whether these two groups were different in key characteristics associated with their interest in, and engagement with science. The full range of festival goers, from those with little connection and interest in science to science enthusiasts, who participated in Guerilla Science, were similar to festival goers overall, indicating the effectiveness of the approach for engaging adults from beyond the science choir. Providing access points to science engagement within non-science cultural contexts and designing the science experiences to align with cultural identity of the audience represents an evidence-based practice for broadening participation.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of informal workplace learning in contemporary face-to-face and virtual environments. Informal learning is an important driver for professional development and workplace learning. However powerful informal learning may be, there is a problem when it comes to making it a real asset within organizations: Informal learning activities are mostly invisible to others, sometimes the learners themselves might not even be aware of the learning that occurs. As a consequence informal learning in organizations goes undetected, remains off the radar of HR departments and is therefore hard to asses, manage and value [1]. This problem poses an interesting challenge for the field of Learning Analytics, namely finding ways to capture and analyse traces of (social) informal learning in every day life and work networks. Therefore empirical research and tools are needed that can raise awareness about informal learning activities to make it surface the radar, amplify the benefits of it and strengthen the social relations through which it occurs. In this paper we introduce a tool that aims to facilitate exactly this and we hope to stimulate to widen the discussion on Learning Analytics by expanding the field from a predominantly educational focus to informal and workplace learning. In this paper we will discuss methodologies that Learning Analytics can draw upon to make informal learning more explicit and accessible to analyse and to share amongst professionals.