Purpose: Knowledge exchange networks are critical to farmer success and help reduce barriers to entry and growth for new farmers. This study explores informal and formal knowledge exchange networks among two growing industries in Maine: maple syrup production and beekeeping. We increase understanding of the mechanisms through which knowledge…

This review aims to understand everyday learning of older adults using mobile devices. Specifically, for both academic and practical implications, we wanted to know what theoretical perspectives researchers adopted and how mobile devices play a role in older adults' informal learning. We analyzed 28 empirical studies (15 qualitative, 10…

This research study, grounded in experiential learning theory, utilized a draw-and-explain assessment to measure change in secondary students' knowledge before and after an experiential field trip. Our results indicated that the secondary students (aged 15-18 years) had pre-existing knowledge of the local delta area that included both abiotic and…

This qualitative study investigated how high level sports officials engage in experiential learning to improve their practice. Adult learning occurs in formal, nonformal and informal environments, and in some cases it is difficult to differentiate between these settings. In the case of cycling officials, learning begins in a nonformal environment…

Recently, schools nationwide have expressed a renewed interest in school gardens (California School Garden Network, 2010), viewing them as innovative educational tools. Most of the scant studies on these settings investigate the health/nutritional impacts, environmental attitudes, or emotional dispositions of students. However, few studies examine…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the lived experiences of adult learners who are owners and managers of small winery businesses operating in the start-up phase of the organizational life cycle. The study explored and identified the meaning of adult learning in the entrepreneurial context and its affect on…

Workplace and professional learning, lifelong learning, adult learning, learning in different contexts have become of more and more interest and now dominate all aspects of 21st century life. Learning is no longer about "storing and recall" but "development and flow". "Theories of Learning in the Workplace" offers fascinating overviews into some…

Purpose: The paper sets out to suggest that knowledge in the SME enterprise is embodied as evident in such notions as tacit knowing and learning, and embedded grounded in the situated social historic contexts of individual lives and work. This supports the view that the nature of knowledge is inherently indeterminate and continually evolving.…

Purpose: The primary purpose of the study was to determine the type of relationships that existed among organizational learning dimensions studied. In addition, the study sought to establish whether the correlations were statistically significant at 0.05 and 0.01 levels. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopted a correlational quantitative…

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…

This article treats Aristotle's broad conception of knowledge as a key to understanding practical knowledge, as well as the differences between learning in practice and learning in schools today. Aristotle's three main categories of knowledge--the theoretical, the productive and the social-ethical--can serve to differentiate and expand modern…

Reviews the results of an in-depth investigation of research on learning in children's museum settings. Focuses on how young children aged 4 and 5 engage with exhibits and how this might lead to learning. The investigation yielded not-very-surprising findings and some coding categories that may be useful to museum researchers and designers. (PVD)

This paper traces the evolution of a theory of learning in nature in order to explain how people learn in natural settings. The intellectual roots of the theory in informal learning, cognition, affective development, experiential and meaningful learning are described and the synthesis into a comprehensive theory of learning in nature are…

John Dewey believed that all genuine learning comes about through experience. This introduction to Dewey's work explains Dewey's theories regarding knowledge and intellectual development, the acquisition of a body of facts versus learning scientific ways of treating experience, and the significance of Dewey's theories on informal learning centers…

Purpose--Sociocultural learning theories, usually premised on participation in some community, explain workplace learning well up to a certain extent. The paper aims to extend beyond these and to account for learning in repetitive and mundane work environments from a dialectical perspective. Design/methodology/approach--Based on a longitudinal…