science

Informal education

Informal education is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Informal education rather than just read about it. In short: Informal education is a general term for education that can occur outside traditional lectures or school-based learning systems. The term includes customized learning based on individual student interests within a regular classroom curriculum, but is not limited to that setting.

Key takeaways

Informal education belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Informal education to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Informal education from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Informal education is a general term for education that can occur outside traditional lectures or school-based learning systems. The term includes customized learning based on individual student interests within a regular classroom curriculum, but is not limited to that setting. It may occur through conversation, exploration, and the expansion of experience. Sometimes there is a clear link to a broader educational plan. The goal is to provide learners with tools that help them progress toward more complex material. It can refer to various forms of alternative education, such as unschooling or homeschooling, autodidacticism (self-teaching), and youth work. Informal education can include both accidental and purposeful ways of acquiring new information. It can be discussion-based, and focuses on bridging the gaps between traditional classroom settings and life outside of the classroom.

Role People interpret information differently, and therefore a structured curriculum may not allow all learners to understand the information. Informal education is typically less structured than traditional classroom settings, which can make it an effective form of learning. Informal education can help individuals learn to react to and control different situations and settings. In addition, it combines social entities that are important for learning. Informal education may be viewed as the learning that comes as a part of being involved in youth and community organizations. This type of education often occurs as a spontaneous learning process. It helps to cultivate communities, associations and relationships that make for a positive learning environment.

Characteristics Some characteristics of informal education are:

Informal education looks to create or deepen situations where people can learn, explore and enlarge experiences, and make changes. Provides an environment where everyone can learn together and can scaffold off of one another. Understanding that the activity can be based on any form of learning, the teaching does not have to be deliberate, more so implied. Students are given the tools to do complex materials over time, rather than teaching the complex material and then giving the tools. Focuses on the social aspects of learning, and how important collaborative learning is. The tools given to students are tangible for the processes in which they will be applied. Bridges the gap between school and life. Allows students a choice in learning, and how to approach the material. Make learning accessible in everyday life and in the future. Informal education is driven by conversation and interacting with others.

Benefits Responsiveness when interacting with the environment. Allows for free choice and changes in interests. Bridges gap between theory and practical

In indigenous African communities Informal education has been the practice of indigenous communities in Africa since these communities have been established. The tradition of African education has long been closely intertwined with the daily life of the African people with the idea that children "learnt what they lived". The philosophy of traditional African education suggests that one’s education cannot be separated from the everyday life and the "curriculum" is thus considered "a way of life" with the ultimate goal being to create a "complete individual, [and] a lifelong learner". The knowledge and practices that are important to the community are generally passed down through the sharing of memories and participation in cultural activities. Their education system serves as "the information base for the community, which facilitates communication and decision-making". Similar to other indigenous communities such as the Chillihuani in Peru, African education is created with goals in mind but is not limited to typical classroom settings; students continually participate in various learning activities as they grow in the community. The culture within traditional African communities contain methods of learning. Through song and dance children learn more about their language as well as how to read and write. Oral traditions are used to teach children about history and morals as well as other forms of culture and practical skills for survival. In northern Tanzania and southern Kenya, the children of the Maasai pastoralists learn skills such as "where to find water and green shrubs that can be fed to young calves" in case of drought. Children are encouraged to show respect to their elders and through this, children learn how to show respect through their actions and words. A child can even learn the circumstances of their birth through their names. Onipede, a Yoruba name in Nigeria, suggests that the child was born soon after the death of a family member. Through their traditional science, children learn how to contribute to health and food production. everything that is a part of their life is used as a means to learn about themselves, their communities, and their culture.

Advantages If a person masters a skill by becoming deeply engaged in solving a problem, then giving students real world issues or opportunities to solve problems in their own lives and communities would significantly motivate and help them to master new concepts. Teaching students new scientific concepts by using cultural tools could eliminate the time spent trying to figure out whether concepts are useful or not. This approach may motivate learners and help them to master what is taught from the start. If we applied English and grammar lessons to effectively communicate with others in the community, students would be more inclined to effectively master these concepts since they would be using them for individual or group purposes. Finally, formal schooling, unlike an informal school setting, discourages students from learning and problem solving on their own. Informal learning can open up a plethora of intellectual growth in those that seek to learn outside a standard academic setting. Pursuits can be influenced by a smaller class size to be the best that they can be, with instructors better able to see to the individual care of each of their students.

See also Nonformal learning Formal learning Informal learning

References

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Informal education

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Informal education claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Informal education before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Informal education ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Informal education

In research: Informal education appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Informal education in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Informal education is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alternative education, Learning, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Informal education outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Informal education in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Informal education means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Informal education out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Informal education in simple terms?

Why does Informal education matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Informal education?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Informal education.