In this article we argue for "reculturing" museums, starting with the ways that museum educators are professionally developed, focusing, in particular, on working with diverse visitors. By "reculturing" we mean shifting the core values and practices of a museum community, starting with its education practices. The aim of…

Self-help literature has become an important domain of adult learning in North America. Self-help books offer readers advice on how to take charge of their lives and achieve goals such as prosperity, love, happiness, wellness, and self-actualization. Despite the popularity of self-help books, there has been little research about them from scholars…

The ability to argue well is a valuable skill for students in both formal and informal learning environments. While many studies have explored the argumentative practices in formal environments and some researchers have developed tools to enhance the argumentative skills, the social argumentation that is occurring in informal spaces has yet to be…

This article reviews the history of public religious education in the United States with an eye to its learning outcomes, contexts, and approaches. That history suggests that public religious education is still needed today but that informal learning contexts may be more appropriate than public schools. Recent trends in learning habits are then…

The aim of this methodological paper is to expound on and demonstrate the value of conversation-analytical research in the area of (informal) teacher learning. The author discusses some methodological issues in current research on interaction in teacher learning and holds a plea for conversation-analytical research on interactional processes in…

The authors examine the modernist underpinnings of traditional adult learning and development theories and evaluate elements of those theories through more contemporary lenses. Drawing on recent literature focused on "public pedagogy," the authors argue that much learning takes place outside of formal educational institutions. They look beyond…

Informal instructional approaches have long been an important component of a complete education in general and of music education in particular. But informal approaches have often been subject to bandwagon over-enthusiasm, with proponents inflating their virtues beyond what the concept appears to warrant. In this paper I will, first, examine the…

Education has institutionalized a process that reifies cultures, ecological communities, and ultimately evolution itself. This enclosure has lessened our sensitivity to the pedagogical (eteragogical) nature of our lived relations with other people and with other living beings. By acknowledging that learning and teaching go on between species,…

This article explores citizenship education for adult immigrants through informal language education in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Based on data collected over thirteen months of ethnographic research among volunteer Dutch language coaches in Amsterdam, the primary methods used in this study were in-depth semi-structured interviews and…

The purpose of this study is to examine the kinds of reasoning that African American young men learn and develop when playing Spades, a common cultural practice in African American communities. The qualitative study found that the Spades players routinely consider multiple variables and their mathematical relationships when making decisions. The…

In this article, we consider the role of departmental contexts and relationships in faculty work within liberal arts colleges. Knowledge about how departmental networks relate to success and satisfaction may inform the work of those who support faculty work in liberal arts colleges, as well as other institution types. Analysis of quantitative and…

For many learners, language class can be anxiety-provoking than other courses. Mostly, university students are seen to have language anxiety especially in their second language learning. They tend to be nervous when using English language in the formal situation like in classroom. English Outdoor Programme (EOP) in 2011 as part of informal setting…

Our goal was to document professional skills and attitudes gained via out-of-class teaching and research experiences during the undergraduate years. Qualitative analysis of reflection papers revealed that students noted gains in professional skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, and intrapersonal skills. Importantly, students also…

Non-formal student laboratory environments for primary and secondary school science education have become a major trend in the German educational arena in recent years. These non-formal student laboratory environments are thought to offer unique experimental learning experiences that often cannot be realized in daily school routines. The biggest…

In the past decades, the importance of developing and validating informal and nonformal learning processes has been launched by several international organizations including UNESCO and the OECD, originally mostly focusing on adult learning experiences. Meanwhile, in recent years an increased focus has been evidenced on introducing informal and…