An informal elementary science education program’s response to the National Science Education Reform Movement

Abstract

This report presents the experience of an informal elementary science education program, Hands on Science Outreach (HOSO), that is striving to maintain its identity as an informal program within the context of the National Science Education Reform Movement. We provide an overview of informal elementary science education programs in the United States including a definition and a historical summary. We then depiet how HOSO has reacted to the National Science Education Reform Movement by establishing links between its programmatic and science content and theNational Science Education Standards. We end by presenting three insights constructed as a result of HOSO’s efforts to maintain its informal elementary science education identity during a time of national discussion on who constitutes membership in the science education community.