Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments

Science and education writer Fenichel and Schweingruber (Board on Science Education, National Research Council) present a text developed from the NRC's 2009 report, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits. The text makes valuable insights from the report accessible to a wider range of practitioners, including educators, museum professionals, policy makers, university faculty, youth leaders, media specialists, publishers, and broadcast journalists. Coverage includes the range of informal environments for learning about science; what it means to do and learn science; various aspects of the research on learning--findings on strategies such as interactivity, social and cultural aspects of learning, enhancing interest and motivation, assessment in informal settings--and how new knowledge can be used by practitioners; and variables that affect learning, such as cultural diversity and equity, learning across the life span, and extending learning across different media and settings. Case studies are included to demonstrate how the principles and strategies from research on learning can be and are being used by informal science educators in varied settings. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)