Qualifications frameworks are tools for describing qualifications of an education or training system by classifying them into levels. Each level provides a clear description of what the holder of a qualification knows, understands and is able to do. They are important tools for making qualifications transparent and comprehensible, within and…

No undergraduate or postgraduate programmes currently exist for the professional education of informal educators. The authors outline the development of previous programmes and consider the emergence of informal education as a discrete concept. The article then highlights some key failings in the professional education of informal educators and…

This paper describes the application of a "biosocial" approach to informal health and science education. As an engagement between biological and critical social sciences, biosocial theory has sought to re-articulate human bodies as fundamentally the product of interrelationships between the biological and social dimensions of human life.…

Intervention research is replete with examples of finely crafted innovations showing initial efficacy in tightly controlled experimental contexts only to fail when they are implemented in typical use settings. While the reasons for such failures are broad, implementation science shows a targeted and judicious use of appropriate competency drivers,…

This paper describes key success factors for the implementation and development of a LEGO robotics engineering outreach program for elementary school students in West Texas. The outreach program not only aims at getting young students excited about engineering but at the same time aims at improving retention rates among electrical and computer…

Social and mobile technologies offer users unprecedented opportunities for communicating, interacting, sharing, meaning-making, content and context generation. And, these affordances are in constant flux driven by a powerful interplay between technological innovation and emerging cultural practices. Significantly, also, they are starting to…

Informal science is a burgeoning field that operates across a broad range of venues 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, visitor studies, and…

This paper takes a descriptive look at Community Science Workshops (CSWs). This paper discusses what CSW is, how it arose and spread, how local CSWs are structured and led, and what programs and experiences they offer to youth. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

The aim of this article is to contribute to realising the progressive and democratic opportunities that National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) can offer. In doing so it will be critical of many of the ways that NQFs have been interpreted to date and the claims that have been made for them. The article has six sections. Section 1 considers some…

This 45-paper anthology presents an overall picture of 1973-1983 writings in Roundtable Reports, the quarterly journal of Museum Education Roundtable. Thirty-five of the articles appeared in previous Roundtable Reports, while some are new articles that reflect on original articles to provide context and historical perspective. Papers are grouped…

Golden Age 4-H Clubs provide opportunities for older persons to remain curious and creative. They can become vehicles for communication between the generations both in the family and in the community. Their development requires careful planning, incremental development, and clear participant motivation. (Author/SK)

Designed for media specialists and educators, this issue includes five articles exploring the contributions of children's films to museum programs. Following a brief editorial encouraging the use of films in museums, the first article outlines a picture storybook model for evaluating children's films. Several storybook models are identified, and a…

In outlining a national strategy for environmental education in India, this document describes some current and future efforts of the Center for Environmental Education at Ahmedabad. It provides an historical account of India's environmental problems and its recent efforts at addressing those problems in light of rapid developmental efforts and…

In the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), United Nations University (UNU) initiated the creation of a network of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) for Education for Sustainable Development. This paper describes the philosophy behind the activities performed by one of those RCEs, RCE Rhine-Meuse, an RCE…

This report concerns itself with the growth and progress of "general" university extension for the biennial period 1922-1924. By general university extension is meant extension activities of universities and colleges in the fields not covered by agricultural and home economics extension under the Federal subsidy acts through the Federal land-grant…