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£9 million 'informal learning' initiative launched

четверг, 10. апреля 2014 - 16:39

A new initiative, launched today by the Wellcome Trust, will explore how informal learning activities have the potential to make a positive impact on young people’s engagement with science.

Working in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the US-based National Science Foundation (NSF), Science Learning+ will provide £9 million to support research into the processes by which learning takes place outside the classroom. The new initiative follows a report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust in 2012 which found that, while there is evidence to suggest that activities chosen for pleasure can and do stimulate interest and learning in science, this evidence is minimal and further research is needed.

The funding will give researchers the opportunity to investigate the connection between how informal learning activities – for example, visits to museums or science centres, playing games and watching dramas or documentaries – influence attainment in formal education.

The initiative aims to learn more about, evaluate and maximise the impact of informal learning experiences; improving understanding of how informal environments may help to widen access to science for young people from all backgrounds. Dennis Schatz, program director in NSF's Division Research on Learning said: “Projects such as science museum exhibits, after-school programmes, citizen science projects, and science cafés are popular and get people involved in science outside of the classroom.

"This collaboration will allow us to bring together the resources of both the UK and US in understanding better the learning achieved through these kinds of projects.” Funding for the initiative will take place in two phases, beginning with planning grants in 2014 to enable initial collaborations and ideas development. This will expand to longer term partnership grants in 2015, for research programmes of up to five years.

Writing in The Telegraph today, Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Wellcome Trust said: “US studies tell us that, during the school year, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds make similar progress to those from more affluent ones, but they fall behind during the summer holidays. “If such ‘out of school’ experiences, such as trips to museums, theatres and galleries are important, we must make sure that they are available for young people of all backgrounds.”

Last month, Sir Michael Tomlinson, former chief inspector for Ofsted called for STEM development in early years at primary school, with a focus being placed on bringing these subjects alive in their every day contexts. He said that this would help to challenge the current belief among many schoolchildren that these subjects were difficult and only led down a specific career path such as “being a scientist”.

Adrian Alsop, Director for Research at the ESRC said that experiences outside of the school classroom, in more informal settings, can be “crucial to unlocking people’s interests.” “We know from previous social science research that some groups of young people regard science as ‘not for me’ and there is often a perceived disconnect between the science learned in the classroom and how it can be applied with positive benefits in the real world.”

It is hoped that by investigating this connection further, more young people will engage with science, both at a young age and beyond GCSE.

Josie Gurney-Read

Источник: 
www.telegraph.co.uk
Тэги: 
funding
learning in science
Wellcome Trust