Facilitating successful informal STEM learning experiences is essential for building knowledge and comfort with STEM content for children and teachers alike. Informal learning experiences are by nature hands-on and interdisciplinary and provide play-based, real-world, authentic learning experiences. This article describes what elementary teacher…

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand how experienced adult educators practice and identify with experiential andragogy for qualitative research methodology in nonformal faculty development programs hosted by an institution of higher education that administers professional military education (PME) programs. Emergent themes…

Quality out-of-school time (OST) programs for youth are limited by a lack of professional learning opportunities for staff and volunteers that are based upon solid learning theory, affordable, and scalable for a diverse field. The Click2Science project is an innovative model for professional learning experiences that support staff and volunteers…

Background: Educational museums are composed of objects, documents, and narratives that together create a learning experience. Existing models of museum education tend to analyze the visitor experience, but rarely take into consideration the unique characteristics and challenges of multicultural heritage museums. Purpose: This article proposes a…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore informal learning experiences among employees working in South Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 100 employees. This study specifically seeks to understand the characteristics of informal learning in Korean SMEs and culturally sensitive contextual factors that shape informal…

With the aim of diversifying popular music education scholarship, this article explores the phenomenon of hip-hop musical learning as experienced by eight American hip-hop musicians who describe how as well as with whom they learned to create and perform. The study explores issues related to learning processes, social relationships, and the role…

University of Connecticut Extension educators are engaged in a new program that fosters intergenerational informal science, technology, engineering, and math learning through combining geospatial technology and conservation science. Conservation Training Partnerships (CTP) is a program that brings together adult conservation leaders and…

The purpose of this research is to describe and analyze the involvement process of informal sector workers as learning society in "Kampung Inggris" Pare Kediri. Informal sector workers play an enormous role in learning society activities, both in course institutions and in community activities, especially informal sector workers with…

This paper discusses two projects that use practice as research to explore learning that takes place in liminal spaces--within the university but not formally in the classroom, while bridging discursive fields. In each project, university faculty participants and student participants in the fields of music, dance, and education, came together to…

As part of ongoing efforts to support a diverse and robust engineering workforce and ensure that children and adults from all communities have the engineering and design thinking skills to succeed in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-rich world, identity has become a growing focus of research and education efforts. To…

The paper substantiates the position that education and modern society, a 'society' in change because of present day developments in all the different sectors at local as well as national and international levels, are mutually dependent on each other. A modern national society expects its education system to provide in its differentiated education…

This chapter is about the design and study of a pre-service teacher field experience that takes place at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's immersive space Q?rius ("curious"). Q?rius features more than 6000 specimens including shells, skeletons, fossils, rocks, and minerals that are organized in non-text collections…

For people living in rural communities, opportunities to meet STEM professionals and visit the science centers, museums, zoos, and aquariums usually found in urban areas are often limited because of geographical isolation, socioeconomic disadvantage, and in many cases, language barriers. To address this issue, two University of Washington (UW)…

The purpose of this study was to examine how African American grandmothers caring for their grandchildren promoted literacy for themselves and for the children in their care. A descriptive-qualitative approach to collecting and analyzing data was deemed most appropriate for addressing the study questions. In-depth interviews were held with eight…

Purpose: In competitive labor markets, promoting employees' learning becomes a key challenge for companies. However, in small German craft companies, employee development is always connected with worries about employee turnover. This study aims to investigate the current informal learning strategies of craft workers and how they use the…