Informal Educational Contexts Research Articles

MyElvin

ELIN (European Languages Virtual Network) is a European Union Lifelong Learning Programme Project aimed at creating an informal social network to support and facilitate languages learning, this social environment is so called MyElvin. This social platform allows a very interesting combination of formal and informal learning activities. The research work behind this project aims to research and develop the connection between social networks, professional profiles and language learning in an informal educational context. At the core of the ELVIN project, there will be a web 2.0 social networking platform, MyElvin that connects employees/students for language practice based on their own professional/academic needs and abilities, using all relevant technologies. This paper presents the first system prototype that integrates social media and content repository.

Contradicciones y oportunidades en la formación del profesional de la Psicología de la Educación

Based on his teaching experience, the author examines the potential reasons for which Educational Psychology has become a weak career option for Psychology students. The most significant challenges and opportunities for research and teaching in Educational Psychology over the next years are considered: the new postgraduate training frameworks,the practicum, advantages to be obtained from including experienced practitioners in the training of educational psychologists, the generalization of novel teaching methodologies such as problem-based learning, the formulation of conceptually strong models and interpretative frameworks, the sensibility towards emerging problems linked to new demands in formal and informal educational contexts, and the broadening of the field of Educational Psychology in the sense of not just centering intervention on pupils and, at the same time, deepening our understanding of the teaching and learning processes of specific curricular content.

Learning environments at the margin: Case studies of disenfranchised youth doing science in an aquarium and an after-school program

In this article, we explore how two informal educational contexts—an aquarium and an after-school science program—enabled disenfranchised learners to adopt an identity as insiders to the world of science. We tell the stories of four youth, relating what doing science meant to them and how they positioned themselves in relation to science. We contribute to the extensive literature on the value of learning beyond the school walls, yet focus on ethnically and linguistically diverse youth from low-income backgrounds who have often been excluded from such settings. We suggest that such out-of-school settings are particularly important to youth who have few other opportunities to interact with and relate to science in positive ways.

Bringing Commercial Games into the Classroom

One of the challenges facing us when we try to bring commercial materials such as video games into the classroom to be used as educational tools is to identify appropriate strategies of collaboration with teachers, families, and even industries. This paper explores how multimedia contexts can be created in which children become active participants in a digital universe where multiple technologies are present (so that video games are just one of several digital tools). We present several examples derived from specific projects carried out in formal and informal educational contexts, in action research and from ethnographical perspectives. As participant observers in and outside the classroom, we designed workshops as innovative educational contexts; all the sessions were video and audio recorded. Our analysis adopted a socio-cultural perspective. Several preliminary results clearly appeared: (a) Children playing commercial games inside and outside classrooms produce different writing texts depending of the context in which they are generated; (b) using video games combined with other digital technologies seems to be an effective way of introducing children to the content and structure of games considered as dynamic systems; (c) using and reflecting on video games in and outside the school, via discussions in digital media such as blogs or pictures, can contribute to the development of digital literacies as a way of using multimodal discourses. Our main goal at this moment is to design digital materials capable of supporting teachers’ and families’ use of games and in particular, to reveal the rules that organize their structure, codes and symbolic universe.

Urban youths’ hybrid positioning in science practices at the margin: a look inside a school–museum–scientist partnership project and an after-school science program

In what ways do urban youths’ hybridity constitute positioning and engagement in science-as-practice? In what ways are they “hybridizing” and hence surviving in a system that positions them as certain types of learners and within which they come to position themselves often as other than envisioned? To answer these questions, I draw from two ethnographic case studies, one a scientist–museum–school partnership initiative, and the other, an after-school science program for girls only, both serving poor, ethnically and linguistically diverse youth in Montreal, Canada. Through a study of the micro dialectics from the perspective of youth, I show what we can learn from examples of doing science in a formal and informal educational context supportive of marginalized science practices resembling in part, at least, science-as-practice. Through an integration of the findings with current discourses of relevance in science education such as funds of knowledge and youth centered, co-opted science, I contribute to the formulation of a global pedagogy of science education and in particular, what such may imply in the eyes of youth in French Canada.

Writing the future in the digital age

AbstractMeaning making in new media presents new opportunities and challenges for those working in formal and informal educational contexts. How this impacts on a literacy curriculum that attempts both to deliver ‘the basics’ and to respond to new technology demands careful exploration. This paper examines what we mean by digital literacy and how it differs from traditional print literacy, identifying some key priorities for literacy educators. Drawing on the work of Gee, Kress and Lankshear and Knobel, it maps the field of digital literacy and locates areas for research and development. A discussion of the significant changes in materiality and textual form is followed by an exploration of the concept of critical digital literacy. The paper concludes with an overview of future trends in digital communication, which suggest that written representation will continue to be important and that digital literacy will continue to develop distinct registers.

Mind the Gap(s): Discourses and Discontinuity in Digital Literacies

Meaning making in new media is rapidly presenting new opportunities and new challenges for those working in formal and informal educational contexts. This article provides an overview of current theory, thinking and commentary in order to map the field of digital literacy and to identify key questions for research and policy development. It identifies some of the discontinuities or gaps that exist between teachers, their students, and what technology can now deliver. Through two case studies the author tells the story of social practices that illustrate everyday digital lives and show how interactions involve a constellation of literacy events. This approach allows him to raise questions about the transfer of such practices into educational contexts and to explore the gaps between informal uses of digital literacy and current classroom literacy routines.

Overcoming Gender Bias With Self-Efficacy: A Case Study Of Women Agricultural Education Teachers And Preservice Students

Women have been traditionally underrepresented in secondary agricultural education as teachers and students. Using critical theory as the lens for interpreting findings, this case study sought to explore female teachers' and preservice students' experiences in secondary agricultural education to better understand their perceptions of barriers to entry into the profession. Two-thirds of the women reported that they experienced gender bias from school administrators, community members, and peers; however, they exhibited a high degree of self-efficacy for teaching agricultural education that allowed them to persist in spite of any barriers. However, all discriminatory experiences are more likely to discourage women in preservice education from entering the profession. It is recommended that agricultural teacher educators prepare female preservice students with the knowledge and skills necessary to face and overcome gender bias in a variety of formal and informal educational contexts, especially job-seeking interviews, to increase their chances of career entry into secondary agricultural education in this state.

Torres Strait Islander Music and Dance in Informal and Formal Educational Contexts in Australia

Torres Strait Islanders constitute a minority within an Indigenous minority in Australia. Less research has been conducted on Torres Strait Islander education compared to Aboriginal education. Cultural practices such as music and dance are a means to express Islander identity and to articulate Islander concerns within wider society. However, culture and its place in the curriculum is problematic. While culture and cultural identity are important to many Islanders, other issues that impact on educational outcomes must also be addressed if there are to be real and effective changes. Nevertheless, music and dance can be important to Islanders living on the mainland as well as in the Torres Strait. Music and dance are means for Islanders to retain a connectedness to their homeland and to celebrate their cultural identity.

Emergent learning opportunities in an inner‐city youth gardening program

AbstractAn emphasis on doing science calls for rich descriptions of the kind of science that gets done in such informal educational contexts as science museums and science‐focused after‐school and summer programs. Described in this article is a study of an inner‐city youth gardening program and of the kinds of learning opportunities that it supported and that emerged from youth‐initiated actions and talk. In particular, there is an examination of the ways in which the garden environment and the experiential nature of the program gave support to the emergence of learning opportunities, while also making connections possible among science, community, and work. The description emphasizes the value of a science that emerges from participants' engagement in activities they deem valuable, meaningful, and authentic. In essence, the results of the study show that informal educational programs that do not have science as their primary goal may provide important insights into the development of learning communities in the classroom. The study highlights the educational value of a school science practice that is driven by its consumers, rather than being imposed on them, and that provides opportunities for the integration of science, work, and community. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 164‐184, 2002

Evaluation of the ZIG-ZAIDS game: an entertaining educational tool for HIV/Aids prevention

This article presents the evaluation process for the ZIG-ZAIDS game, investigating the material's applicability in formal and informal educational contexts, i.e., how the game has been used by health professionals, parents, and the target population (pre-adolescents, or children over 9 years old). The study involved evaluation questionnaires sent to a list of schools and institutions using the game, plus interviews and visits to places where the game was used as well as tested with groups of students. It also includes an analysis of evaluation previously sent by the authors to people who had requested the game. The results showed that the population's level of information is more relevant than age in relation to the game's impact. Another important aspect relates to ZIG-ZAIDS' applicability to different situations: training of health and teaching professionals; activities with street children; municipal institutions and events, schools, companies, communities, and health care centers. In summary, ZIG-ZAIDS was found to be an entertaining, creative, and innovative alternative for providing information on AIDS and sexuality.

Lúdico e educação: novas perspectivas

Neste artigo, serão retomadas as teses desenvolvidas no livro Jogo e educação (Brougère, 1998), não para questioná-las, mas para ampliar a análise, situando as relações entre jogo e educação no âmbito da educação informal e do lazer, associando atividades adultas e infantis. Tão importante quanto defender uma especificidade do jogo, que tentamos evidenciar em vários planos, é relacioná-lo com as atividades que lhe são similares. Tal proposta pretende favorecer a introdução de novas pistas de análise e redimensionar a questão em um contexto menos mítico.