Community and youth worker training is being subject to the pressures of market forces and is in danger of losing its focus on student-centered, informal learning methods. (SK)

Adults do not learn science in the same way as either children or scientists. A separate theory of adult learning of science for scientific literacy is needed as the basis for the development of methodologies. (SK)

The community is a natural setting for autonomous, democratic adult education. A framework for connecting the community and adult education has three mechanisms: community formal adult education, community nonformal adult education, and community informal adult education. (SK)

Interviews with 118 rural and urban physicians revealed their belief that pharmaceutical information provided in response to their questions was more credible than that offered spontaneously by sales representatives. Information must satisfy an existing need and must be verified as a possible solution to practice problems. (SK)

Study of 11 European companies building a learning organization found that they used different pathways to achieve the same goal; human-resource innovation is fragile and easily destroyed; competency profiles were shaped by company contexts more than external standards; and the predominant approach was informal learning. (SK)

To date no instrument has been developed to effectively examine the wide variety of informal experiences a child may encounter. Develops and field tests such an instrument called Informal Learning Opportunities Assay (ILOA) which was administered to 2128 middle and high school students. Indicates that ILOA was found to be ethnically neutral,…

Assessment of informal and nonformal learning requires resolution of three questions: how to define competencies, how to measure them, and how to ensure the legitimacy of the measure. Assessment and certification procedures must be well defined and robust, with quality assurance methods accepted by all stakeholders. (Contains 22 references.) (SK)

In Olympia (Washington), the Procession of the Species has been an annual parade and wildlife festival since 1994. By engaging the community in creative workshops and joyful participation, the festival seeks to promote appreciation of and responsibility toward nature more effectively than does traditional environmental education. (SV)

The distinction between formal and informal education is unhelpful. A reconceptualized concept of apprenticeship should reconcile the polarization between learner-centered and transmission approaches to instruction. (SK)

Data from Canada's New Approaches to Lifelong Learning Study confirm the pervasiveness of unpaid work and informal learning. Most employed persons engage in a variety of work-related informal learning activities. However, underemployment in terms of use of acquired skills is widespread. (Contains 29 references.) (SK)

The study of informal musical learning outside institutional settings, such as schools, has proved to contribute important knowledge to aspects of music education. Hip-hop, as an example of informal musical learning, has so far been quite an unexplored field for research. The present study investigates music creation within two hip-hop groups (…

This paper focuses mainly on theoretical frameworks for understanding and investigating informal learning in the workplace, which have been developed through a series of large- and small-scale projects. The main conclusions are included but readers are referred to other publications for more detailed accounts of individual projects. Two types of…

This article treats Aristotle's broad conception of knowledge as a key to understanding practical knowledge, as well as the differences between learning in practice and learning in schools today. Aristotle's three main categories of knowledge--the theoretical, the productive and the social-ethical--can serve to differentiate and expand modern…

The author brings together the question posed in Kathryn Ecclestone's article in last month's "Adults Learning--"Where's the vision?"--and the letter from Wayne Bennett, General Manager of Dillington House, about the threat to residential colleges. The author brings out some of the connections between them and issues surrounding adult community…

This inductive, qualitative study investigates how learning took place among nine experienced engineers in an industrial setting after a major reorganization. A thematic analysis of the transcripts revealed that the learning was informal and that it fell into three distinct categories: learning new workflows, learning about the chemical process,…