The effects of parent-child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy-eight children (M[subscript age] = 4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative…

This paper reports on a study involving the design of a virtual community for informal learning about Thai herbs. The community relied on social networking tools and a database of expert knowledge as well as community coordinators. One group of coordinators (Community A) concentrated efforts in recruitment of members on those individuals most…

The article presents an outline of the history of Folk High Schools in Sweden. The analysis includes mainly social and political determinants of their functioning in Poland's northern neighbor. The main trends of the evolution of social functions of these institutions has also been presented in the article encompassing 145 years of their…

Science content knowledge is a concern for educators in the United States because performance has stagnated for the past decade. Investigators designed this study to determine the current levels of scientific literacy among undergraduate students in a freshman-level biology course (a core requirement for majors and nonmajors), identify factors…

Learning does not stop when an individual leaves formal education, but becomes increasingly informal, and deeply embedded within other activities such as work. This article describes the challenges of informal learning in knowledge intensive industries, highlighting the important role of personal learning networks. The article argues that…

Recent public discussions of curriculum and pedagogy that have accompanied the English National Curriculum review have been structured around clichéd dichotomies that generate more heat than light and that, as Robin Alexander has argued, reduce complex educational debates to oppositional and incompatible slogans. This paper begins by exploring the…

In this article, I interrogate students' stories about the spaces and places in a tertiary Outdoor and Environmental Education course that support and shape their environmental ethics. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study, I explore the ways in which particular sites of learning (outdoor, practical learning) are privileged and how…

In this study, I provide a microgenetic-historical account of learning in an informal setting: the conceptual change that occurred while a university-based scientific research laboratory investigated the absorption of light in rod-based photoreceptors of coho salmon, which the "dogma" had suggested to be related to the migration between…

The present publication is one of the outcomes of the OBSERVAL-NET project (followup of the OBSERVAL project). The main aim of OBSERVAL-NET was to set up a stakeholder centric network of organisations supporting the validation of non-formal and informal learning in Europe based on the formation of national working groups in the 8 participating…

New technologies and developments in media are transforming the way that individuals, groups and societies communicate, learn, work and govern. This new socio-technical reality requires participants to possess not only skills and abilities related to the use of technological tools, but also knowledge regarding the norms and practices of…

Paulo Freire's notion that education is politics is well known to readers involved in areas of critical education, and thus a detailed rehearsal of the burgeoning literature illustrating and elaborating on this view is not necessary. After all, this view has a very long, albeit repressed, history, which anticipates Freire and those who took up the…

University of Wyoming Extension educators are often hired because of their subject matter expertise; yet, they must still develop education skills as well as learn to use various and ever-changing technologies. This research was conducted to understand what impact guided instruction on informal learning concepts and methods had on UW Extension…

Lately, the influence of digital technologies in people's daily lives has become unquestionable. Devices, such as computers and smartphones, are now part of individuals' interpersonal communication, work, entertainment, and even learning. Interestingly, learning with these technologies can occur on a formal basis, such as students using…

Living in learning societies encourages learning outside the classroom. Alongside this reality, higher education institutions have been incorporating policies and procedures that support recognition of prior learning (RPL). This development means establishing adequate RPL assessment practices. Our empirical study at the Aalto University Language…

This study investigates how scientist-led educational programs, held in libraries, can make local science issues relevant to families. Given the need for an educated citizenry, it is important to explore if scientists -- as learning facilitators -- can use educational strategies to engage intergenerational groups. We view family learning from a…