Reframing Collaborations with Informal Science Institutions

Abstract

Understanding how people learn science demands consideration of a variety of factors such as interests, opportunities, and interactions that potentially influence learning across the lifespan and throughout multiple contexts (see also Anderson chapter 2). Facilitating such a process, through different settings and different situations, is not really the sole responsibility of an individual or single organization; rather, it likely involves a conglomeration of entities affording connections across and between ideas and interests, past and present (see also Rahm, chapter 7). In some cases, collaborations span several organizations that explicitly support such learning activities across different environments (see Ash & Lombana, chapter 3), including both formal and informal learning environments. In these cases, it becomes critical to understand how (and even whether) different institutions can actually work together to achieve a shared goal of science teaching and learning.