People learn in many different ways and in many different places. What is learned informally or experientially is often the same or similar to what may be learned in traditional formal learning environments. There are many reasons why recognizing experiential learning is viable educational option, more so in today's economy than ever before. Prior…

Many informal science educational programs aim to help students improve their understanding of science. Little research, however, has focused specifically on the direct experiences and subsequent ideas of culturally and linguistically diverse girls when they engage with science in informal learning settings. The research described in this report…

In 1992, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) launched a 3-year project titled Natural Resources for Equity in Science: Connecting Museums and Community Groups, also known as Project MOSAIC (Museums Offering Science Assistance in the Community). This manual and accompanying video, designed by Project MOSAIC, covers…

Educators and museum evaluators are attempting to understand the influence science museums have upon science education and the kinds of learning experiences visitors have in the multisensory, informal learning environments of science museums. The problem investigated in this study involved the effectiveness of the exhibit interpreter. The study…

The purposes of this investigation were to describe the curricular elements of a museum and to determine if the framework for interpreting a school curriculum found in "A Study of Schooling" (Goodlad & Associates, 1979) is applicable to the informal curriculum of the non-school setting. Eight museums were studied; curators were…

Patient education is recognized by health care providers and patients themselves as an important component of adequate health care for hospital patients. Through this informational process, patients receive information about specific health problems, learn the necessary competencies to deal with them, and develop accepting attitudes toward the…

This paper, a discussion of papers by Robert S. Randall, Greta Fein, Richard Bauman and Murray Newman, looks at informal learning from an anthropological viewpoint with an emphasis on inversive theory. It is suggested that the irrational elements of informal learning, the combinations of order and disorder, allow children to relate to reality by…

For the university to be of service, it must be attuned to urban life. Some educators have suggested that a special chain of urban grant universities could reproduce in the cities the success of the landgrant colleges with rural society. The question is: Is the rural precedent really pertinent to contemporary urban needs? Analogies from urban…

Neville Bennett's controversial research into primary teaching styles unearthed one informal teacher, who obtained higher learning gains from her children than any other teacher in the sample. The author reports on how she handles more than a thousand individual contacts a day. (Editor)

This study aimed to investigate how 132 poor, urban, elderly black persons engage in formal and informal learning activities and the relation of such activities to educational histories and current life satisfaction. Findings show that the population is involved in purposeful learning activities and is motivated to pursue educational interests.…

Discusses the educative role of the family in pre-industrial England focusing specifically the role of the mother. Provides quotes from diaries and other contemporary sources of information to document the points being made. (GEA)

An important aspect of the "Information Age" is the gradual trend toward an informal education environment within which people use available information to serve their needs and interests. Recognition and use of the available information education experiences will better equip youth for the numerous changes they will face in the future. (CB)

Children's solutions to simple word problems requiring addition or subtraction skills develop through four stages: (1) modeling with objects; (2) utilization of both modeling and counting strategies; (3) reliance on counting strategies; and (4) reliance on number facts. The current primary mathematics curriculum fails to capitilize on rich…

Reviews a research study that examined zoo visitors' understanding of wildlife before and after zoo visits. Low posttest scores suggested that a zoo experience is regarded as a recreational outing rather than an educational event. Implications for educational improvement are presented. (ML)

Increasingly the different ways in which learning can be conceptualised alongside debates within the field of HRD regarding its nature and purpose, potentially lead to confusion regarding how learning is to be assessed in the workplace. This paper identifies some of the complexities associated with assessing learning in today's workplace and…