Fall 2019 — Formal and Informal Education: Learning for Life
Kids spend less than 20% of their time in school. What do they learn during that other 80%?
The major portion of our learning happens in what are called “informal” learning environments. During our first few years of life, we spend a lot of time close to home as we learn to be little human beings. As working adults, we do most of our learning on the job. In between, during our school years, it certainly feels like we spend all our time at school — but with weekends, evenings, and holiday breaks, school really only takes up less than a fifth of a student’s life.
The chart above gives us an idea of just how little time we spend in school. Even during our most school-heavy years, we spend only 18.5% of our waking hours in the classroom (shown in orange). The rest — what the Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center calls the “sea of blue” — is spent at home, with family and friends, cooking, watching TV, gaming, doing extracurricular activities, drawing, making music, visiting museums, playing sports, travelling, and just living our everyday lives.
That’s a lot of unstructured learning time. How can parents and teachers help school-aged kids keep learning after the bell rings?
The answer lies in harnessing the power of that “sea of blue.”
The president of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Senior Advisor at the Pacific Science Center, Dennis Schatz, has a mission: to make science learning “lifelong, lifewide, and lifedeep.” ‘Lifelong’ and ‘lifewide’ seem pretty self-explanatory, but what is ‘lifedeep’? To Schatz, lifedeep means allowing students to go into science at a depth that’s most appropriate for them — whether that’s simply following science in the media, becoming a full-blown science professional, or anything in between.
The trouble is, the structure of in-school science learning can be flexible with a thoughtful, top-notch curriculum (see previous posts on learning through play, tinkering, project-based learning, and more), but only to a point. Teachers are still limited by things like testing requirements, bell schedules, classroom sizes, and school resources. The freedom for students to explore at their own pace really kicks in after the school bell rings.
The key is to infuse science and exploration into our everyday lives — our homes, TV shows, local clubs, Scouts, science centers, museums, zoos, nature centers, aquariums, libraries, parks, and churches. This will help us turn science from an intimidating mythical beast into a familiar, playful face that students are comfortable with.
In the research world, this is called a “learning ecology.” For Schatz, it’s about making science as pervasive as sports in our society — think intramurals, after-school games, even “pickup science” at local parks. Schatz says he knows we will have succeeded when we have to “rush home to Monday Night Science.” A tall order, when you think about the sea of blue and green jerseys filling your grocery store every week! But Schatz believes it can be done, if we harness those learning opportunities that are so abundant outside of school.
Plenty of people shy away from science because it’s such an “academic” subject—for some, it’s associated with intense, even anxiety-inducing in-school learning. Only recently have educators really kicked the personal, culturally relevant aspect of science teaching into high gear. It’s become clear that most effective tool for science learning is also the biggest challenge: Sparking kids’ interest at an early age. A few very science-minded kids might have no trouble discovering their passion in science in a traditional classroom setting, but for most, it takes a little more creativity to get them on the hook. This is the basis for the paradigm shift from STEM to STEAM in recent years — incorporating the arts and other, less intimidating activities into science learning. It’s about helping kids find an entry point into science that feels natural and fun.
Informal learning environments are perfect for this, because they are so flexible, rich with possibilities, and free from the structure of the classroom. In Schatz’ ideal world, science will become a comfortable hobby much like cooking, gardening, or photography. People often learn these things without taking any formal classes — why does science have to be any different?
In fact, most people in science fields remember developing an interest at an early age, and not in school, but — you guessed it — in an informal setting. Whether by visiting a science museum, tinkering with LEGOs, reading Zoobooks, having a blast doing science activities at summer camp, or watching science TV shows at home, the out-of-school “sea of blue” is where scientists across all levels and cultural backgrounds tend to discover their fascination with their chosen field. I myself remember my own human biology spark, when my mom — a neonatal nurse at Seattle Children’s Hospital — used to let six-year-old me drill her with trivia questions about why we have kidneys and where babies come from.
Making these fond memories helps us to form positive associations with science, in a setting where we feel comfortable and free to explore — free from the pressures of school bells, tests, and “inside voices.” This freedom gives students the confidence to jump into science both in and out of school, instead of being intimidated by it. Importantly, it also helps them relate to science on a personal level. In this way, each person’s journey to science is totally tailor-made. This is particularly important for kids who are low-income, have different learning abilities, or come from cultures that are often overlooked when it comes to STEM learning.
Schatz says it all comes down to taking advantage of that “sea of blue.” That means building bridges between in-school and out-of-school experiences. The NSTA, together with the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), runs an online journal called Connected Science Learning. There, educators and parents can read about combining in-school and out-of-school learning experiences to create a full, comprehensive learning ecology that’s even stronger than the sum of its parts.
This could include any number of partnerships between formal and informal institutions — the possibilities are virtually endless. At Boston College, the Hydroponics track of their College Bound program recruits high school students from the area’s public schools for their Urban Hydro Farmers program. At the college, the students are charged with managing the hydroponic greenhouse on campus. They also learn about science career options and preparing for college. Also in Boston, the nonprofit CitySprouts partners with 21 local public schools. They work with students, teachers, and families to plant urban gardens on campus, where they engage the students in learning about their natural environment during tuition-free summer and after-school programs. Part of their mission is to level the playing field for English language learners and kids with disabilities.
In New York, public middle school students in the Billion Oyster Project study and research the New York Harbor ecosystem to restore the natural oyster habitats there. This is done through the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS), which partners the public school system with local biologists, ecologists, engineers, oceanographers, and computer scientists. The Billion Oyster Project spans both in-school and out-of-school curriculum, exposing school-aged kids to problem-solving science in the real world.
The Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines kept things close to home by starting a preschool on its campus shortly after it opened in 1970. There, the founders’ mission is to use the flexible, playful environment of the science center to inspire those very young students to be lifelong STEM learners.
One of Curio Interactive’s most influential partners is the Pacific Science Center. There, Curio got their public debut in the science center’s temporary workspace for startups— “The Hive” — where they were able to test and showcase their classroom tools to science center visitors in real time. Now, Curio is working on an astronomy lesson for 4th and 5th graders at PacSci, where students will be able to bring their hand-drawn planets to life on the beloved Science on a Sphere exhibit.
Curio also partners with World Ocean School in Boston, where they are building a lesson that dives deeper into watersheds and local marine ecology after 5th graders spend time learning aboard a historic tall ship in the Boston Harbor. Curio hopes to team up with lots of other local learning institutions soon, ranging from aquariums to nature associations to science camps. They also recently led activities at the ideaX Makerspace at the King County Library.
These are just a few examples of how educators in formal and informal learning environments can work together to create a STEM learning ecology that pervades students’ everyday lives. In this way parents, teachers, and STEAM professionals can make science learning “lifelong, lifewide, and lifedeep.”
References:
Connected Science Learning: Linking In-School and Out-of-School STEM Learning
EcoWatch: 10 Urban Farming Projects Flourishing in Boston
Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Webinar: “NSTA Science Update: Making Science Learning Lifelong, Lifewide, and Lifedeep”
Pacific Science Center: Visualizing Planet Earth in a Whole New Light
