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This book advocates establishing "learning systems" that utilize all the educational resources of communities to connect and extend learning opportunities across a lifetime. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the essence of lifelong learning and a learning society; (2) how and why people engage in free-choice learning; (3) the free-choice learning landscape; (4) learning from the inside out; (5) learning from the outside in; (6) learning during the early years of childhood; (7) older children as eager travelers on the road to learning; (8) adolescents' journey in search of a purpose; (9) young adults and learning in pursuit of new roads and new adventures; (10) middle-aged adults and learning to "walk the crest" and "avoid the ruts"; (11) learning among older adults; and (12) the free-choice learners' Bill of Rights. The following recommendations for building a 21st century learning society are offered: (1) focus educational reform efforts on individuals; (2) restructure all departments of education into departments of learning to encompass all types and degrees of lifelong learning; (3) establish a lifelong learning budget for every citizen; (4) create, train, and support a cadre of personal learning coaches; and (5) develop new models of assessment focusing on individual growth and development. (Contains 153 references.) (MN)

This book describes the nature and extent of science learning in America with particular attention to the innumerable sources of science education existing outside the formal education system. Examples are provided from research and practice on how to better understand, facilitate, and communicate about free-choice science learning including policy recommendations for insuring its growth and integration within the complex learning environment of the 21st century. Chapters include: (1) "Free-Choice Science Learning: Framing the Discussion" (John H. Falk); (2) "Who Produces Science Information for the Public?" (Bruce V. Lewenstein); (3) "Achieving Scientific Literacy: Strategies for Insuring That Free-Choice Science Education Complements National Formal Science Education Efforts" (Rodger W. Bybee); (4) "The Use of Time and Space in Assessing the Potential of Free-Choice Learning" (Geoffrey Godbey); (5) "The Effects of Early Childhood TV-viewing on Learning" (John C. Wright, Daniel R. Anderson, Aletha C. Huston, Patricia A. Collins, Kelly L. Schmitt, and Deborah L. Linebarger); (6) "The Acquisition and Retention of Scientific Information" (Jon D. Miller); (7) "Investigating the Role of Free-Choice Learning on Public Understanding of Science: The California Science Center L.A.S.E.R. Project" (John H. Falk, Pauline Brooks, and Rinoti Amin); (8) "Supporting and Documenting Choice in Free-Choice Science Learning Environments" (Robert B. Lebeau, Phyllis Gyamfi, Karen Wizevich, and Emlyn H. Koster); (9) "The First Free-Choice Science Learning Conference: From Issues to Future Directions" (Jessica J. Luke, Betty Dunckel Camp, Lynn D. Dierking, and Ursula J. Pearce); (10) "The Free-Choice Education Sector as a Sleeping Giant in the Public Policy Debate" (Diane B. Frankel); (11) "Supporting Systemic School Science Education Reform in Partnership with Free-Choice Science Learning: A Texas Case Study" (Charlie Walker and Vanessa Westbrook); (12) "Free-Choice Science Learning: Future Directions for Researchers" (Laura Martin); and (13) "A PractitionerOs View on the Value of an Infrastructure for Free-Choice Science Learning" (Ann M. Muscat). (MVL)