Free-Choice Science Education: How We Learn Science outside of School. Ways of Knowing in Science and Mathematics Series.

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)