Learning Science in Informal Environments People, Places, and Pursuits (2009) / Chapter Skim
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4 Everyday Settings and Family Activities
4 Everyday Settings and Family Activities
Pages 93-126
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From page 93... ...
In many situations, scientific content, ways of thinking, and practices are opportunistically encountered and identified, without any particular prior intention to learn about science. In this way, science learning is simply woven into the fabric of the everyday activities or problems.
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From page 94... ...
Everyday science learning can even appear in the structure of schools and the workplace. For example, some have argued that many child-oriented preschools and apprentice-like graduate programs have in common a kind of situated learning embedded in meaningful ac tivities characteristic of everyday learning (Tharp and Gallimore, 1989)
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From page 95... ...
These everyday pursuits, while they involve sustained individual inquiry, are also often intensive social practices in which individuals share expertise and combine their distributed expertise to reach goals that include solving problems, increasing expertise, and enjoyment. SETTINGS FOR EVERYDAY LEARNING The settings in which everyday and family science learning occur vary a great deal in terms of physical setting, the degree to which a particular location is obviously marked as science-oriented, and the relationship to science learning institutions and programs.
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From page 96... ...
. Other everyday activities are even more explicitly focused on learning science content; these include reading books about science topics, or watching videos and television shows about such topics (e.g., the Discovery Channel)
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From page 97... ...
We return to this in greater detail in Chapter 7. WHO LEARNS IN EVERYDAY SETTINGS Virtually all people develop skills, interests, and knowledge relevant to science in everyday and family settings.
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From page 98... ...
Individuals' interests in and motivations to pursue scientific learning change during adolescence. Yet especially for those with strong personal interests in scientific areas, learning experiences in informal settings potentially continue to supplement classroom science instruction.
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From page 99... ...
It is safe to say, however, that the sheer number of hours in which individuals encounter scientific information outside school over the life span is far greater than the number of hours of science education in formal classroom environments. WHAT IS LEARNED This section focuses on the science knowledge, skills, and interests that children and adults develop in everyday learning.
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From page 100... ...
. Strand 1: Developing Interest in Science What sets everyday learning apart from other learning is the sense of ex citement and pure intrinsic interest that often underlies it (Hidi and Renninger,
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From page 101... ...
Adult science learning in everyday settings is also usually self-motivated and tightly connected to individual interest and problem solving. For example, adult learners often learn about science in the context of hobbies, such as bird watching or model airplane building (Azevedo, 2006)
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From page 102... ...
. Much of young children's early understanding of the natural world grows out of experiences in everyday settings.
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From page 103... ...
. It is evident from this work that many of children's earliest ideas about the natural world seem to focus on a distinction between social, intentional creatures as distinct from nonintentional, inanimate things (Carey, 1985)
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From page 104... ...
Just as children learn science in everyday settings, so do adults. The clearest examples are health- and environment-related information.
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From page 105... ...
Nonetheless, in the presence of so much information gathering and with demonstrable behaviors, such as health care actions, as a result of the information gathering, we believe it evident that learning takes place in these everyday settings. These examples of developing understanding of scientific domains in both adults and children help support our contention about the importance of everyday learning.
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From page 106... ...
. In the interdisciplinary literature that touches on everyday science learning, the disagreement seems to focus on the role of everyday experiences in children's developing scientific thinking.
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From page 107... ...
Strand 3: Engaging in Scientific Reasoning Another important focus of research on science learning in informal settings has been on how people employ the types of reasoning involved in science in their everyday activities. Research on scientific thinking has often focused on a specific set of structured, almost stereotyped, thinking strategies.
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From page 108... ...
These laboratory-based studies may shed light on a phenomenon that is pervasive in everyday learning situations. Throughout much of the research on scientific reasoning, a pervading assumption about the "right" way to do science is apparent.
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From page 109... ...
Sandoval (2005) argues that children have better access to their own reasoning in everyday settings than they do in classroom settings.
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From page 110... ...
However, research focused on everyday settings has highlighted that some features of scientific practice can often be found in routine activities (Nasir, Rosebery, Warren, and Lee, 2006)
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From page 111... ...
They learn to parse the evidence from the theory in ways that allow for careful analysis. Studies of everyday science learning that do address social issues focus more on the former notion of science as a broadly social process, rather than on the sociological description of science as a specialized, normed form of interacting.
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From page 112... ...
While explanation has been a focus of much of the work on scientific reasoning, narrative or story-telling is another example of a verbal form that researchers argue is relevant to science thinking (and crucially important for learning in general) (Bruner, 1996)
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From page 113... ...
The social nature of learning science also has consequences for how children interpret information from different adults. A growing field of study in cognitive development focuses on children's evaluation of sources of information.
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From page 114... ...
, arguing that all students' everyday ways of thinking include scientific skills, such as argument. Gender is another factor that is related to identity as a science learner.
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From page 115... ...
We think the literature justifies and requires acknowledgment of the ways in which everyday science learning activities often overlap with
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From page 116... ...
We acknowledge that everyday science cannot replace the kind of sys tematic and cumulative pedagogy that science educators have developed. For example, the concept of learning progressions has attracted substantial attention among science educators and researchers.
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From page 117... ...
, 7th international conference of the learning sciences, ICLS 2006 (vol.
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From page 118... ...
Journal of the Learning Sciences, 4, 105-129. Carey, S
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From page 119... ...
Science Education, 89 (5)
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From page 120... ...
Markman (Eds.) , Cognitive development: Handbook of child development (vol.
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From page 121... ...
Commissioned paper prepared for the National Research Council Committee on Science Education for Learning Science in Informal Envi ronments. Available: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/Brice%20Heath_ Commissioned_Paper.pdf [accessed February 2009]
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Perspectives on the public understanding of science and some implications for science education. Driffield, England: Studies in Education.
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From page 123... ...
, The Cam bridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp.
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From page 124... ...
Presentation to the National Research Council Committee on Learning Science in Informal Environments, Washington, DC. Available: http://www7.nationalacademies.
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From page 125... ...
Journal of Science Education and Technology, 14 (5-6)
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From page 126... ...
. Rethinking diversity in learning science: The logic of everyday sense making.
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