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Eric Siegel said,

>I've been trying to break the habit of referring to what we do by 
>what it isn't..."informal", "out of school" etc.  People seem to 
>respond well to the idea of museum learning when we use the phrase 
>"free choice learning."  I guess its just spin, but...

I have to agree that the formal/informal dialectic we help perpetuate 
is unhelpful, if not downright counter-productive.  I like the way 
Lynn Dierking put it, "learning is learning, and it is strongly 
influenced by setting, social interaction, and individual beliefs, 
knowledge, and attitudes."  "Informal education" happens to be 
convenient shorthand for something more like "education in informal 
contexts."

Ed
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________________________________________________________________
Edward Rodley           	email: 
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Content Developer	                        
Research, Development & Production              
Museum of Science 	           ph:           617.589.0296
Boston, MA                        fax:           617.742.2246
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