Informal Education and Outreach

We learn much of what we know outside of formal schooling. This kind of learning is called informal education. Informal learning experiences range from museum visits, watching weather forecasts on television, and reading books and magazines, to Girl and Boy Scout merit badge programs. It is voluntary, occurs outside of courses and work leading to academic diplomas, and is the foundation for lifelong learning. Informal learning has long been recognized as a critical component of successful education.

"A growing body of behavioral research continues to emphasize the importance of early and continued informal learning - from the earliest parental influences; to the development of naive concepts about nature; to the development of strategies for learning and problem solving; to lifelong patterns of self confidence and intellectual curiosity." (George Tressel, in the preface to: Informal Science Learning: What the Research Says About Television, Science Museums, and Community-Based Projects [Crane et al., 1994])

Some of the most magnificent, awe-inspiring artifacts of Earth and space science are found in museums and national parks involved in informal science education. Where else can you lay your hands on an enormous meteorite, stare at a dinosaur skeleton, peer through a powerful telescope or survey a volcano or glacier? Informal settings are rich in resources and brimming with excitement, commodities all too rare in most classrooms. Earth and space science education has much to gain from enlisting the full-scale cooperation of the informal education community.

The United States has a vibrant informal science education community. Millions of Americans of all ages visit museums, watch educational TV, visit the national parks, watch IMAX movies, and use the World Wide Web for informal, on-demand, self-directed learning. In 1995, the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) estimated that there were approximately 134 million visits to the 364 ASTC-member museums open to the public. This means that more people visit museums than all live sporting events combined (ASTC Newsletter, 1996). Clearly, museums and science centers are integral to cultivating our country's science literacy.

Informal education supports public understanding of science and provides exceptional opportunities for the encouragement and enrichment of formal education and family learning (including home schooling). Informal science learning is provided by:

• museums, science centers, planetariums, aquariums, zoos, nature centers, botanical gardens
• parks (national, state, local)
• youth groups (e.g., Scouts, 4H, Boys & Girls clubs, after-school clubs)
• after-school enrichment programs and community learning centers
• amateur astronomy, geology and paleontology groups
• local, state, and national government agencies (e.g., NSF, NASA, USGS, EPA)
• professional societies in education and science (e.g., ASTC, NSTA, AGU, ASP, GSA, NAGT, NESTA, AMS, AAS, to name just a few)
• public libraries
• educational radio/TV/Webcast developers
• publishers of books, games, and science activity kits
• newspapers and magazines
• nonprofit organizations such as Earthwatch, the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

We see four ways in which informal education can help promote the revolution in Earth and space science education.

1. Collaborating with formal education. As a cultural institution, science progresses only through the rigors of formal study. However, informal education in science plays a significant supporting role in advancing science. We view informal education both as precursor and extension of formal learning experiences. Informal learning can stimulate curiosity that prepares the learner to learn in a formal setting. Similarly, informal settings allow learners to extend learning initiated in the classroom. We strongly encourage formal and informal educators to work collaboratively to provide a variety of diverse, stimulating, and high-quality education experiences for all citizens around core Earth and space science concepts.

2. Motivating a love of science. Informal science education has a great capacity to catalyze and maintain interest in science among all youth. It does this by providing a learning environment freed from the constraints of curriculum and educational standards, an environment where learners are truly free to pursue their own interests. At the core of informal science education is the opportunity to explore topics of personal interest through curiosity and self-direction, using authentic first-hand encounters with objects, images, or processes upon which science is based. Informal science engages learners with high-quality scholarship at an accessible level. Many scientists trace the origin of their fascination with science to experiences in informal education that captured their imagination.

3. Creating a scientifically-informed citizenry. Informal science outlets, especially museums, television, movies, newspapers and magazines have a major role in the creation of a scientifically informed and literate citizenry. Citizens of the 21st century will confront a wave of environmental issues requiring basic understanding of the Earth as a system. These issues will continue to confront adults long after they have left formal schooling. Therefore, informal sources of learning new information are nearly the only way that most citizens will acquire the information crucial for dealing intelligently with these issues. Informal science education providers, therefore, should strive to engage citizens in lifelong learning, thereby providing them with opportunities to learn the science necessary to understand topics important in their daily lives. In order to reach across cultural and economic boundaries informal educators should utilize all the tools of popular and new technological media.

4. Generating new ideas in learning. If properly organized, informal education can serve as an important laboratory for the prototyping and testing of new pedagogical approaches that may be used subsequently in formal settings. Informal education settings are not constrained by tight curricular frameworks and the need to prepare students for high-stakes testing. As a result, they offer science education researchers invaluable and flexible opportunities to experiment with and evaluate how students learn. The exhibit floors of museums can serve as laboratories where researchers try out and evaluate different strategies and techniques in learning. Researchers can study these strategies to try to understand long-term outcomes that may help improve K-12 Earth and space science education in formal settings.

Informal Education Recommendations

1. Engage relevant professional societies in supporting informal Earth and space science education.

   The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has recently created an informal education committee that has issued a position statement in support of informal science education and its links to formal education. A dialogue should begin and be maintained between the NSTA and leaders representing the community of informal Earth and space science education.

   A parallel dialogue should also be opened with the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and other professional societies whose members represent a significant part of the informal science education community. We recommend facilitating science talks and professional development sessions on Earth and space science routinely at the meetings of interested societies. We also recommend working with these societies to develop a statement of support for formal science education.

   The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is one of the largest scientific professional societies in the world devoted to Earth and space science. The AGU has been developing a policy statement in support of national science education standards and the effective involvement of scientists. We recommend supporting this effort and working to ensure that both formal and informal education are explicitly acknowledged in this statement and others like it from other professional Earth and space science organizations.

2. Facilitate the effective involvement of Earth and space scientists in informal science education.

   Funding agencies like NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) increasingly encourage the involvement of research scientists in education. We endorse the formation of support networks, coalitions, and/or advisory bodies that can identify and facilitate appropriate opportunities and relationships between Earth and space science research communities and informal education communities. We also endorse training opportunities for scientists in education and public outreach.

   We specifically recommend creating and maintaining a menu of opportunities for Earth and space scientists in informal education. This menu could be used to support prospective participants in NSF programs such as the $50K Supplements to Research Awards for Informal Science Education, CAREER, and GK-12. The GK-12 program should be intentionally broadened to the informal realm so that graduate students are funded to develop partnerships with informal learning institutions that support formal education. The recommended menu would also support scientists in NASA's Earth and Space Science Enterprises who are now required to spend 1-2% of their flight program budgets on education and public outreach.

3. Support providers of informal learning experiences in developing high-quality, well-evaluated exhibits, programs, and community events that support the National Science Education Standards.

   Many science centers, museums, community organizations, public TV stations and other informal learning providers have exhibits, programs or events related to an Earth or space science discipline. Very few have helped visitors experience and learn about the systemic connections between these disciplines. We advocate increased emphasis on supporting exhibits, programs, and events that: A), make interconnections between Earth system disciplines; B), take full advantage of the connections between Earth and space science; and C), demonstrate science as inquiry. We strongly recommend that inquiry be routinely built into informal education media such as exhibits, open houses, educational TV and radio programs, and so on. Moreover, we recommend increased support for summative evaluation and research on the effectiveness of Earth and space science informal education programs in affecting visitor attitudes, behavior and learning in science.

4. Support exemplary teacher professional development at informal learning institutions and assess the impact on teacher classrooms.

   Interactive exhibits, Web-based virtual exhibits, discovery labs, open houses, planetarium and IMAX shows can be used to enhance teacher training and linked to instructional materials identified as exemplary by the formal education community.

   We also recommend facilitating dialogue between informal education institutions and schools of education to better prepare pre-service teachers to make use of informal learning opportunities to enrich classroom learning.

5. Assist science centers, museums, and other interested organizations in providing opportunities for students, teachers and families to participate in Earth and space science research, student science competitions and science fairs.

   K-12 students and teachers are increasingly engaged in authentic scientific research. Museums and science centers are often well suited to facilitate or inform such involvement. In addition, these institutions are often called upon for ideas related to student competitions or science fairs. We advocate the development and maintenance of a bank of ideas, disseminated by online databases such as the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), for student involvement in scientific projects related to Earth systems and space science.

6. Establish mechanisms to disseminate timely, accurate scientific information in response to events that attract widespread public interest and attention.

   The public is fascinated by news of natural hazards and disasters, by new discoveries in fields with popular appeal such as astronomy and paleontology, by Hollywood movies like "Twister," "Deep Impact," and "Jurassic Park," and by awareness-raising such as Earth Science Week. This widespread attention creates opportunities for learning. We advocate taking advantage of these opportunities by providing access to engaging, scientifically accurate information on the Earth system and space science topics relevant to these events. Information might be disseminated via newspapers and magazines, news media and movie Websites, and in museum exhibits.

   To ensure scientific news and information is widely available, we also advocate exploiting technologies that reach underserved audiences and provide new accessibility for those with special needs. One idea for the future is to tie audible Earth and space science data and information to car-based GPS and GIS systems.

7. Create a Web-based clearinghouse for evaluation studies of informal Earth and space science programs and exhibits.

   Evaluations associated with science center exhibits very often go unpublished, yet are critical for long-term progress. A Web-based clearinghouse housed at DLESE and coordinated with the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse should be established for evaluation reports and descriptions of "best-practices" related to informal Earth and space science education.

8. Support national and local youth activities with Earth and space science content, such as organization achievement programs (e.g., Scout badges), after-school enrichment programs, amateur groups, science fairs and other events.

   High-level leadership should work with leaders of informal education and youth organizations to ensure quality sciences content of national and regional initiatives while working locally with individual groups. One example would be to help the leadership of youth organizations (e.g., Scouts, 4H, Boys & Girls Clubs) to design and support training for achievement awards (e.g., Scout badges) related to Earth and space science content. Opportunities should be sought to disseminate successful local initiatives nationally.