The contribution of free-choice learning to public understanding of science

Résumé 0

"There is no single right way to learn things, and no singleplace or even moment in which we learn. All learning happenscontinuously, from many different sources, and in many differentways. There are three main educational sectors, the formal educationsector of schools and universities, the workplace, and thefree-choice learning sector. Of the three, the most frequentlyover-looked is the free-choice learning sector. The free-choicelearning sector includes museums, television, radio, the Internet,magazines, newspapers, books, parks, community organizations of all types: youth, adult, religious, environmental, health, sportsand recreation. It is a vast educational infrastructure that helpsto support the on-going and continuous learning of all citizens.Recent research suggests that nearly half of the public’s scienceunderstanding and learning derives from the free-choice learningsector. Hence it is incumbent on science educational policy makersand practitioners to recognize the fundamental role that freechoicelearning makes in public understanding of science."