Validation of non-formal and informal learning has been gaining political momentum in Europe within the implementation of lifelong learning policies since the early 2000s. Policy documents claim a variety of education, socio-political and economic benefits from the implementation of validation, making validation a "hero" for lifelong…

Partnerships are crucial for museums to reach new audiences, expand their approach, and simply survive in these uncertain times. While practices for effective partnerships between large museums and other institutions are well-documented, the needs of small museums pursuing partnership are less studied. To understand the specific needs of partners,…

Informal education and outreach can be highly effective at shifting public opinion and action on climate change, particularly in rural areas where climate change may be avoided in regular school curricula. Small and mid-sized museums in more rural areas can serve as important sources of climate change content, even when they are not primarily…

Background: Previous studies have investigated effects of out-of-school STEM activities aimed at stimulating children's interest in science with positive results. However, research has not discussed the reasons why such activities are successful. Purpose: In this study, we address this gap by investigating which factors children themselves…

This investigation was conducted to examine middle school students' use of formative assessment technologies in informal science learning contexts. Specifically, this study focused on students' overall preferences when using a game-based student response system (GSRS; Wang, 2015) as a formative assessment. Data sources included students' (n = 42)…

In this article, we describe efforts to reduce barriers of entry to pre-college engineering in a rural community by training local teens to become maker-mentors and staff a mobile makerspace in their community. We bring a communities of practice frame to our inquiry, focusing on inbound and peripheral learning and identity trajectories as a…

What does it mean to express Black joy and loving blackness through STEM-rich making? What does it mean for Black youth in community-based, youth-focused makerspaces to express Black joy and loving blackness? We look at how Black youth alongside their facilitators co-create spaces of Black joy through making. These makerspaces are located at two…

Purpose: This study aims to offer insights into the presence and nature of an information environment provided for young children to support their learning and explore how an information environment for young children can be characterized. Design/methodology/approach: Observations of video-recorded public library storytimes were used to…

The transformative potential of Digital Informal Learning (DIL) is evident in fostering cross-cultural understanding, with a special focus on Arabic cultural education in this case. Drawing from the case of Learn Cultural Identity (LearnCuID) groups, which are informal online learning communities, the discussion highlights how digital platforms,…

The proliferation and strong presence of new media in young children's lives have oriented early childhood research and practice towards the concept of digital literacy, now being an important part of ECE policy and practice worldwide. Children join formal education with a rich repertoire of multimedia, multimodal and digital practices, shaped…

The purpose of this study was to reveal the views of shareholders on utilization of educational technologies in informal education institutions. A total of 10 people including 5 officers and 5 course attendees who were selected via convenience sampling which is one of purposeful sampling methods, participated in this study using qualitative…

This paper outlines adult learning in a rural campaign to prevent mining for coal seam gas in Victoria. In central Gippsland, largely known as the food bowl in the State of Victoria in Australia, a campaign against fracking for coal seam gas has managed to gain a permanent ban on fracking. This policy change would not have been possible without…

Using self-determination theory, this study investigated the influence of a multimedia-enhanced informal biodiversity awareness event on the evolving culture of science and internal and external motivation to take environmental action among the members of a small community in Southeastern US. The event was hosted by a local life and science museum…

Informal STEM education experiences can be invaluable to students as a means of developing their future career goals and career interests. Extracurricular programs in the form of clubs, competitions, teams, and activities provide a platform for these informal education experiences. There are many STEM-focused extracurricular options for students,…

Globally, the purpose of education is becoming increasingly narrowly defined. In this context, this article proposes that supplementary schooling offers a resource for re-thinking the epistemologies and processes of schooling. Drawing on Derrida's notion of "the supplement", the nature and status of this under-researched and marginal…