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Ed Rodley said:

> 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."

What he (and she) said!

I have been following this discussion for some time and thinking about
how to respond.  As someone who works with school districts all the
time, I am very troubled by statements being made about formal
education.  Not all public schools suck the life out of their students,
perhaps not even a majority do.  Not all informal venues promote
learning with spirit, perhaps not even a majority do, and such
stereotyping only inhibits progress in all arenas.  

I work with teachers at a center that has service to schools as its core
mission.  I have also worked in a similar capacity as a faculty member
at a university.  From this work, I have come to believe that the
commonly drawn dichotomy of formal and informal is a false dichotomy.
As a participant in the CILS certificate program, I have certainly been
influenced by Lynn's thinking, but have been leaning that way ever since
crossing over from a formal to an informal context (I like this
construction, Ed).  

Of course, this is a dangerous idea.  If there is only learning, and its
contexts, then why should one context be held accountable and another
not be.  We cannot say we are partners supporting schools when we need a
grant and then step away when the tests come and say "Oh, gee, that
doesn't apply to us... That doesn't measure what we do...  See, we only
had them for a day..."  If we are going to be meaningful partners - and
I wouldn't hold the position I do if I did not believe this was possible
and even essential - then we have to be partners in the whole affair.
In order to be true partners, however, we must have empathy for the task
of the teacher, and not empathy of the sort that says "I'm so glad they
do this job, 'cause I wouldn't want to be with today's teenagers all
day," but empathy of the sort that says, "If I had to teach 25 kids the
core content of some discipline, and keep them safe, and manage their
attendance, work, etc, in 150 hours, these are the trade-offs and
challenges that I would have to deal with."

In view of this dangerous idea, that we should also be accountable for
learning, I would suggest that it is time to some pretty serious work in
our own house.  Pick a popular or favorite exhibit in your own
experience.  To what extent is this exhibit amenable to alteration and
experimentation that would allow the visitor to begin at whatever state
of pre-existing knowledge they have and construct some piece of some
fundamental concept? Or, to what extent is it a demonstration
accompanied by a lecture (printed on a sign) that attempts to transfer
understanding to the visitor didactically?  To what extent are your
educators/floor staff/volunteers familiar with facilitating
investigations and the process of science?  To what extent are they
familiar with the misconceptions research and able to apply it to their
teaching? The benefit of this engagement is that we can enter honestly
into equitable learning relationships with teachers and schools as we
all try to figure out what are the best ways to teach the collection of
concepts, attitudes, and techniques that we call science.

Many of you are indeed already engaging with these issues and I don't
mean to suggest that this is not occurring, but I do not think it is yet
widespread within informal contexts.  My hope is that, rather than
wringing our hands over the state of the schools, we would all work to
foster honest inquiry into effective teaching, regardless of context.

David

David L. Smith, Ph.D.
Director of Professional Development
Da Vinci Discovery Center, Allentown, PA 
http://www.davinci-center.org
"Who will pick up where Leonardo left off?"


 

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