This study aims to examine the moderating effect of participation in informal science activities on the associations among students' awareness of environmental issues and their attitudes toward science and epistemological beliefs. The data set included 9841 15-year-old students from four Chinese provinces (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and…

Educators must consider how today's technology-mediated environments expand our conceptualization of learning contexts and the continuities and tensions between learning and participation in various settings. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational systems worldwide, necessitating emergency remote teaching and coinciding with increased social…

Every country desires and aspires for an education system that caters for learners' physiological needs, belonging, love, self-esteem, security and self-actualisation at the top, which are rarely provided by a few countries. With a review focus on the Ugandan education system, several challenges related to the "education borrowing…

Using structural regression analyses, data from the U.S. 2017 Program on International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) background survey were examined to test the effect of informal learning (observed through everyday activities, such as reading the newspaper or using the Internet to find information about issues) on civic engagement…

Recent updates to federal policy governing career and technical education (CTE) in the United States have emphasised the need to include work-based learning (WBL) experiences as central components of CTE programming. Many of these experiences showcase an informal learning component which has strong ties to early career success as suggested by the…

Background: Museums have been paying an increasing attention to the design of experiences conducive to informal learning. While spontaneous inquiries in museums often pique visitors' intrinsic motivation to learn, certain structures or scaffolds are needed to facilitate sense making in museum learning. Two promising approaches are identified:…

The purpose of this article is to explore the pitfalls and benefits experienced whilst implementing elements of a co-research approach with teachers during a three-year research project which sought to explore perceptions of informal learning in secondary music education. The co-research methodological approach was adopted due to (a) the perceived…

This qualitative case study describes how participation in an outside-of-school program sustained middle school girls' interest in computer science and positively influenced their computational perspectives. Data consists of interviews, observations, and videos analyzed from ten girls participating in a nine-month program during 2017-2018.…

Current research has not fully explored how summer programming camps can help students increase motivation and interest to pursue computing career, and their programming knowledge. Informal CS education through summer programming camps provides K-12 students the opportunity to learn how to code through fun and interactive activities outside of…

The emergence of new media, devices, narratives and practices has compelled media literacy scholars and professionals to review their theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches. Based on a new conception -- 'transmedia literacy' -- that moves from traditional media literacy to informal learning and participatory culture practices, the…

Non-formal STEM education programs can expose youth to STEM concepts outside the formal school environment. These programs employ education techniques such as hands-on learning, problem-solving, and connection to authentic science experiences. Youth participating in non-formal STEM programs are more likely to consider themselves science people and…

Background: This study explored science teachers' participation in a professional development partnership with informal science institutions (ISIs) designed for urban middle school science teachers, known as the "Urban Advantage Science Initiative." The teacher training involved a whole school focused approach, providing teaching…

Two critical challenges in science education are how to engage students in the practices of science and how to develop and sustain interest. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which high school youth, the majority of whom are members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM, learn the skills and practices…

A small-scale pilot study was conducted in north-west Tasmania to investigate adolescent girls' willingness to participate in informal STEM education, through exploring their perceptions and experiences of computer science (CS), and their future aspirations. This pilot study was funded by an Inspiring Australia Public Science Event Grant, enabling…

The article focuses on study visits from the perspective of mathematical project work. Project work means a systematic organizing method of teaching that is based around a project. The research questions are the kinds of study visits students made, the meaning(s) of those visits, the mathematical content in the visits and how such study visits…