UK and Beyond: A Global Perspective on Informal Science Education

Dr. Sai Pathmanathan Ignite! (Nottingham, UK) and currently NSF ISE International Fellow

My background
Queen Mary and Westfield, University of London: BSc. (Hons) Biology. D.Phil. at the University of Oxford: Development of in vitro models of stroke. The Physiological Society, NESTA, Planet Science MA in Science Education: Childrens Perception of Science from Entertainment Media. Ignition* Programme Director, (Ignite!)

www.ignitefutures.org.uk

What is informal science education/learning?

Anything learnt outside of the formal curriculum whether in or outside of school premises

AND/OR

Learning in out-of-school environments?

Ignition* a four-year programme of creative science activities and events in the East Midlands aimed at creating and nurturing young champions of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

www.ignitefutures.org.uk/ignition

Huge increase in activity

Early 80s - few organisations (BA, RI, Museums, Media) Now
More Science Journalists Science Communication courses (Masters, PhD) Core Science in National Curriculum Science Centres in all regions Science Festivals (various locations all over UK and Europe) Cafs Scientifique Popular Science books National Science and Engineering Week and Big Bang Fair (National Science and Engineering Competition) Government level (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Science and Society)

Key players in the UK

British Science Association Wellcome Trust Royal Society Royal Institution of Great Britain Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry, Society of Biology Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering UK Research Councils UK Science Council STEMNET Science Learning Centres Nuffield Foundation (Nuffield Curriculum Centre) Association for Science Education Centre for Science Education (Sheffield), Institute of Education (London) and Kings College (London)

Role models, speakers, activities

Where do children learn?

School may be the obvious answer, but although schools may be good at delivering a prescribed curriculum, learning doesnt stop when the bell goes at 4pm: children go home and play, read books, watch television, play computer games and socialise on the internet. All that time theyre learning things that arent necessarily in the National Curriculum. That spontaneous, unstructured learning what the Institute of Education academic Frank Coffield describes as fundamental, necessary and valuable in its own right is often referred to as informal learning.
Its learning but not as we know it. Vision, January-June pp. 9-12 (2009). Bristol: Futurelab.

We only learn 5% of our science from school

so, the other 95% is from? the most important sources of scientific knowledge are not schools; and that the informal infrastructure of museums, aquariums, broadcast programming and other sources of science exposure, with which the United States is richly endowed, is a far more potent source of public understanding of science than has been previously acknowledged.
Falk and Dierking (2010) American Scientist

http://caise.insci.org
Films and online games, memorable exhibitions, citizen science

Majority of members from museums

http://informalscience.org

Informal Science Education in the US

Informal Science Education in the UK

Childrens Media in the UK

There is a marked difference between educational and entertainment programming in the UK and the USA (Swanson, 2007; Golia, 2008; Sanderson, 2008). Entertainment shows for young people in the US have a stronger educational slant than those in UK in order to catch a wider audience of children who could benefit from education by stealth.

http://flipside.theiet.org/

www.okido.co.uk

www.sciencetolife.org

To the digital native, the analogue becomes wondrous.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/31/ wonder-room-nottingham-university-academy

Making part of the school another world means that you always have somewhere to visit, he says. A room like this offers the opportunity to light upon things rather than be strictured into studying them. He says he has been obsessed with magic since his parents bought him a conjuring set when he was four. I want to use that same sense of wonder to empower the children rather than having them feel they are stupid because they don't yet understand everything they encounter in life.

NUSA Learning Maze

www.scientix.eu

Focus on teachers

cross-border collaboration, school curricula, assessment models, learning resource repositories, teacher training

Scientix European Conference, 6-8 May 2011, Brussels.

Social Media
LinkedIn/Facebook/Google+ groups/circles and updates Class blogs, YouTube, Flickr Twitter: #edchat, #asechat, #SciTeachJC (@SciTeachJC) Pearson/NoTosh report

www.artofsciencelearning.org

http://stemtosteam.org

http://robotheartstories.com/

THANK YOU.
sai@ignitefutures.org.uk spathman@nsf.gov (Rm 855.31, x4305)