Thursday, 25 September 2014
online assignment
K.T.C.T COLLEGE OF TEACHER
EDUCATION
KADUVAYIL, THOTTAKADU.
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT
Name
of the trainee: RISHI SANGA.P.K
Register
No : 13369020
Year :2013-2014
INFORMAL LEARNING CONTEXT
Such
as
Park,
Museum, Playground, Planetarium, ANERT,
Historical
monuments , Music rooms.
This
work is part of our B.Ed curriculum. I have select topic for online assignment
was “informal learning context” such as parks, museum, historical monuments,
playground, planetarium, music room, ANERT.
CONTENT
1.
Introduction to Informal Learning
2. characteristics
of Informal Learning
3. Parks
4. Museum-Based
Learning
5. Historical Monuments
6. Play Ground
7. Music Room
8. Planetarium
9. ANERT
10. Demonstration Park
11. Conclusion
12. References
INFORMAL LEARNING CONTEXTS
Introduction
Informal learning is, by default, any learning that is not formal
learning or non-formal learning. Informal learning is organized differently than formal and
non-formal learning because it has no set objective in terms of learning
outcomes and is never intentional from the learner’s standpoint. Often it is
referred to as learning by experience or just as experience. Formal forms of
instruction such as classroom lessons and e-learning will still be used for many years to
come, it is becoming more and more important to pay attention to the more
informal methodologies that students are using.
The reasons why informal learning is becoming so popular have to do with immediacy and relevancy. Informal methods of
learning are often found in the work environment as they are seen as techniques
that a learner can take advantage of right away and with immediate application
to their job. Another reason consists in the fact that learners can drive their
learning in a more meaningful and self-directed manner. Informal learning
should no longer be regarded as an inferior form of learning whose main purpose
is to act as the precursor of formal learning.We must move away from a view of
education as a rite of passage involving the acquisition of enough knowledge
and qualifications to acquire and adult station in
life. The point of education should not be to inculcate a body of knowledge,
but to develop capabilities: the basic ones of literacy and numeracy as well as
the capability to act responsibly towards others, to take initiative and to
work creatively and collaboratively. Too much schooling
kills off a desire to learn…. Schools and universities should become more like hubs
of learning, within the community, capable of extending into the community…
More learning needs to be done at home, in offices and kitchens, in the
contexts where knowledge is deployed to solve problems and add value to
people’s lives.
According to Marcia Conner that Informal learning is
a "lifelong process" through which people acquire attitudes, values,
skills and knowledge mainly from the mass media, from daily experiences, such
as those made at work, at play, while talking with our neighbors and from
various kind of interactions, in general. It is apparent that informal learning
is rather related to incidental learning. It is a lifelong
process by which every individual acquires and accumulates knowledge, skills,
attitudes and insights from daily experiences and exposure to the environment –
at home, at work, at play: from the example and attitude of families and
friends; from travel, reading newspapers and books; or by listening to the
radio or viewing films or television. Generally informal education is
unorganized, unsystematic and even unintentional at times, yet accounts for the
great bulk of any person’s total life time.
The
important lnformal learning context are parks, museum ,playground, historical
monument ,music rooms , planetarium ,ANERT etc.
Informal learning can be
characterized as follows:
·
It
does not follow a specified curriculum and is not often professionally organized but rather
originates accidentally, sporadically, in association with certain occasions,
from changing practical requirements;
·
It
is not necessarily planned pedagogically, systematically according to fixed subjects, test and qualification-oriented, but rather, either unconsciously incidental or
consciously intended intuition, holistically problem-related, and related to actual situations and fitness
for life;
·
It
is often spontaneous and creative.
·
It
is a key component to an alternative learning system coined, Learning by
Observing and Pitching-In (LOPI) .
Parks
Parks are inherently attractive to children because they
permit escape from the tight strictures of daily life. Located in urban
neighborhoods, parks can offer every child the possibility of healthy physical
activity,if networks of child-friendly, safe, accessible pathways connect homes
with parks. Parks generously support the multitudinous repertoire of chase and
rough-and-tumble games transmitted across the generations through childhood
culture regardless of social class, ethnic background, or geography. Without
opportunities to flourish, these traditions will die. are inherently attractive
to children because they permit escape from the tight strictures of daily life.
Located in urban neighborhoods, parks can offer every child the possibility of
healthy physical activity — if networks of child-friendly, safe, accessible pathways
connect homes with parks.
Many children do not learn effectively exclusively within the
four walls of classrooms. Additional, hands-on learning environments are
required to match varied learning styles. This is particularly true of children
with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) behaviors. An estimated 8
percent of children 3 to 17 years old have ADHD and other learning disabilities
— and the numbers are still rising (probably because of improved diagnosis).
Recent scientific research is beginning to demonstrate an intriguing
health-promoting impact of everyday green space on child development-in
particular on ADHD-like behavior.2 die.
To sustain multiple visits, city parks must be memorable,
combining strong visual identity with striking, harmonious experiences. Recent
research strongly suggests an association between experience of "nearby
nature" (such as in a city park), and reduced rates of aggression for low
income, inner-city populations.3
Children are motivated to learn when they can make their own
discoveries outdoors. Computers can never substitute for hands-on,
multi-sensory experiences that first fire up the mental circuits in young,
inquiring minds. School parks are the most obvious places to stimulate these
learning processes, but they must provide more than just additional sports
facilities that serve a small minority of children.
Museum-based Learning
All
informal learning experiences include an element of free choice, but some are
more structured than others. Structured
informal science educational programs offered at museums, nature
centers, zoos, and other locations may range in duration from short 1- to
2-hour workshops to summer programs with daily sessions over a period of weeks
or months.
Within
the continuum of informal science educational experiences, afterschool programs
tend to be highly structured, to be designed
specifically for children or youth, and to be more closely linked to
school settings than other experiences. Afterschool informal science education
programs provide more extended opportunities for a series of related science
learning activities, unlike other
informal settings, such as a museum or science center, where learning
experiences are typically brief. In addition, afterschool programs offer much
more structured learning activities, generally supervised by a program leader,
volunteer scientist, or mentor, in comparison to a museum or aquarium, where
visitors are free to decide how they spend their time. Finally, attendance in
afterschool programs is not always voluntary, as parents enroll their children
in these programs and expect them to attend. However, students may have choices
about which activities or programs to participate in while attending
afterschool programs, allowing a measure of individual choice. This contrasts
with learning activities at a museum or science center, where visitors are
entirely free to choose what to do, when, and with whom. The goals of learning
in ISE settings vary widely. The goals of institutions, like science museums,
that offer opportunities for informal science learning usually mention
something about education in their mission statement; however, learning goals
are rarely articulated with clarity. Underlying goals may be expressed as
“increasing science literacy” or “increasing interest and participation in
science and technology”, although individual informal science educational
providers may have more focused goals and desired outcomes, such as the
environmental messages of zoos and aquaria. Nevertheless, visitors choose to
attend these places to pursue their own interests, or to involve their families
in science related experiences that are entertaining. Visitors are rarely
concerned primarily about their own science-related learning even though
research has established that learning often happens anyway . Overall, there is
a sense that the visit experience should be engaging, interesting, and
intrinsically motivated. Rather than achieving short-term outcomes, visitors
have the opportunity to build a repertoire of experiences that can be drawn
upon, when needed, to build understanding at a later time. Informal science
education (ISE) is learning related to science that occurs in informal,
out-of-school contexts. These contexts vary from visiting science centers and
engaging with the exhibits and programs offered there, to watching a science
program on TV, to researching a nature topic in the library or online, to
participating in structured afterschool programs, and so on.
At
the beginning of the nineties, Feher (1990) observed that "the study of
learning in science museums is a field in its infancy". In the years
following there has been considerable growth and development in this field of
research. Changes in accepted paradigms and definitions of learning have resulted
in studies that point to the considerable richness of learning that have the
potential to emerge from Museums, science centres, botanic gardens, and
aquariums are commonly referred to as museum settings. The Next Generation of
Research experiences in informal settings. By the middle of the 1990s there was
widespread acceptance of the cognitive, affective and social value of
experiences in museums and similar institutions had drawn attention to the
physical, social and personal contexts in which learning occurs.Others argued
that students enjoyed visits to museums tremendously and that the resulting
increased interest and enjoyment of science activities constitute extremely
valuable learning outcomes that persist over time. In the later 1990s several researchers
embraced constructivist and socio cultural views of learning for detailed
investigations of the processes of knowledge development from students'
experiences in informal settings.
Historical monuments
Monuments have been created for thousands of years, and they
are often the most durable and famous symbols of ancient civilizations.
Prehistoric tumuli, dolmens
, and similar structures have been created in a
large number of prehistoric cultures across the world, and the many forms of
monumental tombs of the more wealthy and powerful members of a society are
often the source of much of our information and art from those cultures. As societies became organized on a
larger scale, so monuments so large as to be difficult to destroy and the Egyptian Pyramids, the Greek Parthenon, the Great Wall of China, Islamic Indian TajMahal or the Moai of Easter
Island have become symbols of their civilizations. In more recent
times, monumental structures such as the Statue
of Liberty and Eiffel
Tower have become iconic emblems of modern nation-states. The term monumentality relates to the symbolic status and
physical presence of a monument. The social meanings of
monuments are rarely fixed and certain and are frequently 'contested' by
different social groups. As an example: whilst the former East German socialist
state may have seen the Berlin Wall as a means of 'protection' from the
ideological impurity of the west, dissidents and others would often argue that
it was symbolic of the inherent repression and paranoia of that state. These
historical monuments also help the students in their learning
Beyond the
schoolhouse door, opportunities for science learning abound. Each year, tens of
millions of Americans, young and old, explore and learn about science by
visiting informal learning institutions, participating in programs, and using
media to pursue their interests. Thousands of organizations dedicate themselves
to developing, documenting, and improving science learning in informal
environments for learners of all ages
and backgrounds. They include informal learning and community-based
organizations, libraries, schools, think tanks, institutions of higher
education, government agencies, private companies, and philanthropic
foundations. Informal environments include a broad array of settings, such as
family discussions at home, visits to museums, nature centers, or other
designed settings, and everyday activities like gardening, as well as
recreational activities like hiking and fishing, and participation in clubs.
Virtually all people of all ages and backgrounds engage in activities that can
support science learning in the course of daily life.
The Committee
on Learning Science in Informal Environments was established to examine the
potential of nonschool settings for science learning. The committee, comprised
of 14 experts in science, education, psychology, media, and informal education,
conducted a broad review of the literatures, history etc.
Play ground
The importance of play in informal
science education and the growth of Science playgrounds as an international
trend among museums to create safe, challenging outdoor environments that use
play to explore the foundations of science. Play is characterized by intrinsic
motivation, active engagement, attention to means rather than ends, non-literal
behavior, and freedom from external rules, a means for acquiring information
about and experiencing the environment. Successful exhibitions for children and
families share these qualities and outdoor exhibitions encourage a degree of
exploration and full-body experience often not possible or appropriate inside a
museum. Two case studies are provided as evidence of the importance of play in
the interpretation and design of science playgrounds. The first, Science
Playground at the New York Hall of Science (opened 1997), uses an interpretive
strategy in which evaluation and remediation are continually incorporated into the educational process.
Experimental workshops were conducted to observe children’s intuitive uses of
the physics-based exhibits, uninhibited by any authoritative explanations. From
this evaluation, the institution elected not to produce interpretive signage at
each unit, but rather to develop a guide for visitors and one for educators
that outline the exhibition's basic physics principles and encourage visitors
to experiment and make connection to their own experiences. These include bringing
together a diverse team to respond to institutional and audience needs, ages,
interests, and cultural backgrounds; creating a specific sense of place, making
use of the local environment and taking
advantage of natural elements including water, soil, wind, and sun. Practical
considerations of safety, materials, and testing and prototyping are also
addressed. The idea of play as essential not only in child development, but
also in development of successful outdoor science exhibitions.
Music
room
Bringing informal
learning practices into a school environment is challenging for teachers. It
can appear to conflict with their views of professionalism, and may at times
seem to run against official educational discourses, pedagogic methods and
curricular requirements. But any conflict is more apparent than real, and how
informal learning practices can introduce fresh, constructive ways for music
teachers to understand and approach their work. It offers a critical pedagogy
for music, not as mere theory, but as an analytical account of practices which
have fundamentally influenced the perspectives of Apart from the teaching
strategies and learning approaches demonstrated by Green, there is much here
that music educators can use. ... Music, Informal Learning and the School opens
a discourse about music education that can only benefit music education as a
whole. If you have any passion for music education, this one will be for
immediate consumption. Agreement is not compulsory; entering into the debate
is.’ Research Studies in Music Education the teachers involved.
Informal
Learning and the School is to be commended for what might be described as its
risk-taking bravery in tackling head-on the problems of engaging young
teenagers, in particular those described as ‘disaffected’, with school music.
Most importantly, perhaps, it offers a representative and optimistic account of
young people’s potential for engaging with music, and, in turn, of the possible
‘musical pathways’ that young people can discover through inspired pedagogy.’ In
music informal learning takes place when musicians are working together on a
more or less equal base. Listening to each other, imitating others and asking
questions are important learning tactics in such a context. Learning itself can
be highly intentional (the individual wants to master a particular song or
technique) as well as incidental (becoming familiar with a particular style of
music by playing examples of this style). The learning result is often more
implicit than explicit. Reflection on what is learned is optional and often
limited. The acquired knowledge and skills are highly applicable to the context
in which they have been learned, transference to less similar contexts is often
problematic and requires intensive practice. (Popular musicians e.g. who are
highly skilful in playing within a particular style of music, have great
difficulty in making use of their knowledge and skills in performing music in a
not-familiar style). Recordings, peers and experts (not in a teaching role) act
as models for learning. Assessment of learning is highly personal and mostly
product related .
Planetarium
The
National Science Education Standards Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy and the
Framework for K-12 Science Education all state students should be able to
describe the apparent motion of the sun, moon, and stars and the lunar phases
by the end of elementary school. The observations necessary for people to
accurately describe these motions happen slowly over hours, days, or even
months and are easily overlooked in everyday life. As a result children and
adults often have alternative ideas about basic astronomy concepts such as the
sun rises and sets in the same place every day, the sun goes through zenith
everyday at noon, or the moon is only seen at night ‘Planetaria can easily
recreate the night sky for any date, time, or location on Earth and can speed
up apparent motions, making them more obvious. Additionally, planetaria are
spaces that can inspire wonder and curiosity that visitors can take home with
them . Unfortunately, there has been very little recent research done
specifically on the effectiveness of planetaria for learning, particularly when
combined with classroom instruction . Despite this lack of research on
planetarium effectiveness, there are studies on stand-alone planetarium shows
and on combining planetarium and classroom instruction that are informative.
There have been some studies in the past few
decades that have looked specifically at the effectiveness of a single visit to
a planetarium in increasing people’s apparent knowledge about astronomy. These
studies tend to focus on the nature and features of a planetarium show that
make it effective. Mallon and Bruce (1982) tested 556 random students between
the ages of 8 and 10 with written content questions and Likert-scale attitude
surveys after they visited one of two different shows. The first was a more
traditional, didactic, and scripted “star show” where students were simply
shown constellations in the night sky. The second was a participatory show that
allowed visitors to extensively interact verbally with the show’s operator
rather than follow a strict script. The results showed more significant gains
in students’ content and affective scores in the participatory program rather
than the traditional star show, suggesting that programs where visitors can
interact in the show in some way are more effective.
ANERT
Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) is an organization working under Government
of Kerala, in Kerala, India, for gathering and disseminating knowledge about non-conventional
energy, energy
conservation and rural
technology. The organization was established in 1985 with headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram. ANERT is guided by
a governing body chaired by the Minister for Electricity, Government of Kerala.
This body gives directions for activities in various energy-related areas. ANERT has also an executive
committee with Secretary to Government of Kerala, Power Department, as
Chairman. The other members of the executive committee are Secretary to
Government, Finance (Expenditure) Department, and Govt: of Kerala, Chairman,
Kerala State Electricity Board, Member Secretary, Kerala
State Council for Science, Technology & Environment, two members nominated by Govt: of
Kerala and Director, ANERT (Member Secretary).
The major programmes being
implemented by ANERT are the following:
·
Solar Photovoltaic Programme
·
Solar Thermal Energy Programme
·
Wind Energy Programme
·
Bio-energy Programme
·
Micro Hydel Programme
·
National Programme on Improved Chulha
·
Integrated Rural Energy Programme
·
Rural Technology Programme
A
Renewable Energy technology Park has been established at AHEC with financial
support from Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Govt. of India for
the purpose of demonstration of RET
systems to general public and student community and for carrying out studies
related to dissertation/ thesis work by the students .
An
Energy-cum-rural technology complex at Brahampur village near Roorkee was
established under joint sponsorship of UPCST & NEDA,
Lucknow
to demonstrate the suitability and adaptability of rural renewable energy
technologies for the betterment of economically weaker section .
DEMONSTRATION PARK
AHEC
has established a Renewable Energy Technology Demonstration Park with financial
support from MNRE. The park houses solar PV pump, solar domestic lights, street
lights, colour TV, vaccine refrigerator, solar hot water system, solar grain
dryer, solar desalination units, solar cookers, improved water mill, wind mill
pump etc. The students are offered dissertation/thesis work on the performance
evaluation of these systems as well as for carrying out R&D work.
Conclusion
Informal
learning methods is learning techniques that a
learner can take advantage of right away and with immediate application to
their job. Another reason consists in the fact that learners can drive their
learning in a more meaningful and self-directed manner. Informal learning
should no longer be regarded as an inferior form of learning whose main purpose
is to act as the precursor of formal learning, and also give direct experience
to the which support the mental and physical growth of children.
Reference
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_learning edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Informal_learning old.mofet.macam.ac.il/iun-archive/mechkar/pdf/InformalLearning.p Physical science education by k.
sivarajan.
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