The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal investigation of a diverse sample of 1,700 fifth graders and 1,117 of their parents, tests developmental contextual ideas linking PYD, youth contributions, and participation in community youth development (YD) programs, representing a key ecological asset. Using data from Wave 1 of the study, structural equation modeling procedures provided evidence for five firstorder latent factors representing the “Five Cs” of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) and for their convergence on a second-order PYD
This longitudinal research used a sociocultural perspective to examine planning competence in the everyday experiences of European American and Latino children from 7 to 9 years of age. Data on children's participation in planning their activities outside of school, parental expectations about children's planning competence, and children's planning in the classroom were collected yearly from Grades 2 to 4 from 140 children and their mothers, and the children's teachers. Results indicate that decision-making practices and parental expectations change with development and vary by ethnicity
Free-choice learning and, derivatively, free-choice environmental learning emerges as a powerful vehicle for supporting diversity in learning styles (Falk & Dierking, 2002). In this article, I argue that free-choice environmental learning holds great potential for enabling us to understand what is at stake in environmental learning and thus help us build a sustainable future. I examine the different informal learning contexts for children, home (family and play), museums, zoos, nature parks and wilderness, among many others, and offer an explanation for how learning occurs in these settings
A critical review of the epistemological foundations of free-choice learning (FCL) theory was undertaken to evaluate how this theory treats knowledge, whatever importance we might attach to it. It is argued here that free-choice learning has great promise yet would benefit from theoretical adjustments that modify Vygotsky’s learning theory by using Dewey’s pragmatic epistemological theories. It is suggested that the concept of intramental knowledge in free-choice learning needs to be grounded on Dewey’s pragmatic conceptions of knowledge, in order to valorise the learner’s own knowledge, and
In this article we describe an instance of free-choice learning in the context of an eelgrass mapping and stewardship project (the Project) that covers over 500 kilometers of coastline in British Columbia, Canada, and involves 20 volunteer groups. In this ethnographic case study we sought to (a) explicate the relationship between individual and collective learning in this free-choice setting and (b) understand how a network of Project participants could both constitute a free-choice learning setting and support such a setting. We articulate a dialectic relationship between individual and
The article presents information on International Technology Education Association's document "Standards for Technological Literacy" (STL). This document is generally thought of as a tool for K-12 schooling that identifies what students should know and be able to do in order to achieve technological literacy. However, the standards in STL are moving into another, broader venue, one that will potentially reach youth and adults of all ages. This article describes how the Boston Museum of Science has assumed the leadership in informal education's museum arena to implement STL and advance the
Museums and galleries collect more visitor data today than ever before. But how much of it gives us real insight into visitors motivations, behaviour, experiences and responses? And how much of it simply ticks a box on a funding form? Commissioned by some of the UK’s leading institutions, including Tate, The British Museum, V&A and the Imperial War Museum North, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre has tackled this insight deficit head on. In doing so, we have helped these organisations to move beyond the data routinely collected to get to the knowledge they actually need.
This monograph, the final report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit held in April 2005, presents an action plan for this emerging field applicable to higher education, K-12 education, policy makers, media & the arts, and research, and details the strategic priorities and specific recommendations for these sectors that were the summit's major outcomes.
Evaluation of the impact of science centers and museums is a growing field of study, because of trends such as increasing competition and financial pressure, demands for greater public accountability and transparency, and government policies that require public institutions to demonstrate their achievements in a variety of areas. As part of this growing focus on impact evaluation, the Association of Science-Technology Centers and a number of individual science centers have jointly funded an international study of the impact of science centers on their local communities. Phase 1 of this study
This research study reports on the evaluation of the outcome and impact of learning as a result of the implementation of Education Programme Delivery Plans in 69 museums in the nine regional museum hubs in England during September, October and November 2005. This is the second study of the impact of learning achieved through museum school services which have been funded through the Renaissance in the Regions programme, which provides central government funding to museums in the English regions. The first study 'What did you learn at the museum today?' was carried out in 2003. The findings of
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Eilean Hooper-GreenhillJocelyn DoddLisanne GibsonMartin PhillipsCeri JonesEmma Sullivan
This paper describes an approach to familiarizing individuals with modern scientific processes through the facilitation of informal learning experiences in and around the museum. Several methods for development of such exhibits and exhibit content are presented. These experiences are discussed and later implemented in the context of the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago, IL. The exploration functions as an educational guideline by which museum exhibits may be developed in order to familiarize a more general audience with processes behind scientific research and to make science
The goal of this article is to provide an integrative review of research that has been conducted on the development of children's scientific reasoning. Scientific reasoning (SR), broadly defined, includes the thinking skills involved in inquiry, experimentation, evidence evaluation, inference and argumentation that are done in the service of conceptual change or scientific understanding. Therefore, the focus is on the thinking and reasoning skills that support the formation and modification of concepts and theories about the natural and social world. Major empirical findings are discussed