Presents 12 informal learning opportunities that human performance professionals can create for employees, including learning exchanges, conference summaries, exchanging ideas, posing questions and problems on email or bulletin boards, lunchtime programs, information sharing, recommended reading lists, vendor and consultant presentations,…

This book chronicles how a group of migrant workers in Cobden, Illinois, developed their own hybrid writing system that used the Spanish alphabet to capture English speech sounds. The event illustrates Freirean ideas about literacy and power and offers lessons for improving English instruction. (TD)

Training effective camp staff starts with reviewing last year's schedule. Desired competencies can be determined by examining existing documents, asking former staff, consulting industry materials, and projecting the future. Specific skills can be taught in orientation and through guided informal experiential learning during the season. A climate…

Explores museum visitors' understanding of skeleton exhibits and whether such exhibits increase their understanding of the zoology displayed. The exhibition under study focused on the diversity of vertebrae skeletons which were arranged according to the mode of locomotion. (DDR)

Examined the phenomenon of natural learning of literacy among 50 preschoolers. Talking with mothers about their perceptions of their preschoolers' literacy development revealed how sensitive they are and how perceptive in their observation of what their children are doing. Suggests that child's literacy development is deeply affected by attitudes…

A British project collected evidence about whether adult involvement in uncertificated or part-time study led to more advanced, certificated programs. Results demonstrated a need for better recordkeeping and revealed some of the circumstances that enabled ease of movement between forms and levels of learning. (SK)

When students help teach one another, active learning, listening, and a spirit of cooperation flourish. A reciprocal tutoring program in three New York City high schools allows all students to be tutors and learn through teaching and has all tutors experience the tutee/apprentice role. This experimental program had better achievement results than…

The pleasures and advantages of informal learning are highlighted in a story about childhood visits to a fabric shop. Contrasts the unhurried, flexible, self-directed nature of informal learning situations with the more structured and controlled environment of the classroom. Discusses skills and lessons learned in informal settings and suggests…

Compared is the modern science center and the traditional museum. The science center was evaluated through systematic observations which described visitors activities not as random manipulations, but as learning activities that lead to both enjoyment and understanding. (KR)

An environmental studies center at Oberlin College (Ohio) was designed to instruct its users in ecological competence and the possibilities of ecological design applied to buildings, energy and waste systems, and landscapes. Students and faculty participated in the planning process, which included research into technologies and materials, high…

Realizing that many find museums intimidating or boring, museum educators and curators are using the World Wide Web to bring children and museums together. This article discusses Web access to selected museums; describes curriculum tie-ins for language arts, careers, mythology, Pueblo Indians; and provides an annotated bibliography of online art…

Relationships among different person and environment characteristics of everyday natural learning opportunities and changes in child learning, behavior and performance were examined in a study with 63 parents and their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities or delays. Findings showed that learning opportunities that were…

In Jamaica, structural adjustment policies have severely limited employment opportunities in the formal sector, and approximately 40% of the labor force engages in "informal" self-employment. Interviews with 250 self-employed microentrepreneurs revealed that effects on income of experience and various types of education differed between…

Information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, have vastly increased access to information and educational opportunities. Steadily increasing consumer demand is driving the development of online educational materials. The end result may be a "fragmentation" of learning involving multiple learning providers and delivery modes,…

Suggest that autobiography ought to be considered both the telling of one's story and the using of that story with others to understand and use difference productively. Claims that autobiography, as telling and interacting, dismantles the universalistic tug of science as local knowledge. Presents selected autobiographical accounts to make both…