An Exploration of Summer Science Camps as an Informal Learning Environment

Smith‐Palmer, Truis; Schnepf, Sabine; Sherman, Ann; Sullenger, Karen S.; MacDonald, Leo

doi:10.1007/978-94-6300-022-2_4

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Studies with high school students showed that participation in informal learning experiences that make STEM relevant to real life may increase females’ interest in STEM, − especially for those not initially interested. , One of the impactful informal learning experiences is kitchen chemistry. ,− Kitchen chemistry creates a disposition to use action language (“Let us do science!”), rather than identity language (“Let us be scientists!”), to describe science activities, which particularly helps girls persist in science by taking action and not worrying about labeling …”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Kitchen Chemistry Boosts STEM Identity and Increases STEM Career Interests

Chen,

et al. 2024

J. Chem. Educ.

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Kitchen chemistry invites people to learn STEM by cooking food. It has become a popular pedagogical strategy to make STEM interesting and relevant to real life. Yet, we do not know if this strategy boosts STEM identity and career interest. Using a large U.S. national sample of freshman college students (N = 15,725), we explored how kitchen chemistry experiences during the high school years were associated with students' STEM identity and their STEM career interests. For STEM identity, we found a gender interaction. Participation in kitchen chemistry activities had a stronger positive effect on STEM identity for girls than for boys, thus narrowing the gender gap. STEMrelated career interests (including biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine and health) were generally boosted by kitchen chemistry experiences, with those effects applying equally to all students, regardless of their gender and race/ethnicity.

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Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Kitchen Chemistry Boosts STEM Identity and Increases STEM Career Interests

Chen,

et al. 2024

J. Chem. Educ.

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“…Communication skills are essential in science. Camps had a clear and direct impact on the student's communication skills were notably enhanced (Smith-Palmer et al, 2015). But in the atmosphere of the camp environment a communication showed that there was feedback on everyone involved.…”

Section: Beenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning Society in Accelerating the Increase of English Understanding and Communicating at Mahesa Putri English Camp

Yulianingsih

Lestari

Dewi

et al. 2021

Journal of Nonformal Education

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Camp is one form of non-formal education that is used as a place to live while undergoing language courses. This study is generally aimed at determining the learning society in accelerating the improvement of understanding skills and communication skills in a camp-based English course for students in Mahesa Putri Camp in English Village. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of camp as an enhancer of understanding ability, and the role of camp as an acceleration of communication patterns. The research method used is descriptive qualitative which describes something objectively, based on data analysis conducted at the time of data collection and after data collection. Data collection techniques used were observation, interviews and documentation. In this study, the subjects of the study were managers, tutors and students at Mahesa Putri Camp English Village Pare, Kediri. From the results of the study, it was found that the students experienced an increase in understanding of learning and motivation from activities in the campThe importance of this research to provide and understanding of the existence of camp provides an acceleration in learning english.

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“…Rogoff et al (2016, p. 358) agree, "It is nondidactic; is imbedded in meaningful activity; builds on the learner's initiative, interest, or choice (rather than resulting from external demands or requirements); and does not involve assessment external to the activity." Informal learning Informal learning alone has many benefits including that it can take place in a variety of settings (Rogoff et al, 2016;Sasson, 2014;Smith-Palmer et al, 2015;Toomey Zimmerman & Bell, 2012). Informal learning programs are designed to incite personal growth while meeting learning objectives (Locklear, 2013) and unlike high-stakes test scorefocused formal education (Berliner, 2011;Sasson, 2014), these programs put personal growth objectives such as self-efficacy at the forefront of programming goals.…”

Section: The Benefits Of Informal Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schools can be organized informally and non-school settings can still implement the factory model of instruction widely used in formal education (Rogoff et al, 2016). Informal learning opportunities do not have to be a part of an ongoing school curriculum and are characterized by voluntary as opposed to mandatory participation (Smith-Palmer et al, 2015). Informal learning can take place in many settings, including during play, club membership activities, science outreach programs, and museums, but complex informal learning takes place especially in youth education camps (Rogoff et al, 2016;Sasson, 2014;Smith-Palmer et al, 2015;Toomey Zimmerman & Bell, 2012).…”

Section: Informal Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Informal learning opportunities do not have to be a part of an ongoing school curriculum and are characterized by voluntary as opposed to mandatory participation (Smith-Palmer et al, 2015). Informal learning can take place in many settings, including during play, club membership activities, science outreach programs, and museums, but complex informal learning takes place especially in youth education camps (Rogoff et al, 2016;Sasson, 2014;Smith-Palmer et al, 2015;Toomey Zimmerman & Bell, 2012). Educational camp programming which utilizes informal learning techniques and applications could potentially help formal educators with fostering personal growth development such as self-efficacy in students.…”

Section: Informal Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adolescent Adventures in Geology: Impacts of Geoscience-focused STEM Education Combined with Recreation Activities on Adolescents’ Perceived Self-Efficacy

Janowicz¹

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Quality, informal learning techniques combined with outdoor adventure recreation, or adventure STEM programming, is a potentially powerful complement to and extension of formal education (Fu et al., 2015). To address this underexplored field, West Virginia University (WVU) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) partnered to create a geology STEM, outdoor adventure recreation camp. This thesis research project employed qualitative directed content analysis to examine the potential impacts of this adventure STEM program on participants' perceptions of their outdoor recreation (OR) self-efficacy (Bandura, 1994; Mittelstaedt et al., 2009). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 adolescent participants with an average age of 15 years. The camp program involved adventure activities combined with outdoor and in-class geology-focused informal learning. The curriculum employed was designed using a theoretical framework involving Experiential Education Theory (Kolb, 1984) and Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura). Participants completed an eight-day adventure STEM program which involved recreation activities such as hiking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, zip lining, environmental education, biking, fossil hunting, and geocaching. Lessons focused on geologic mapping, basic geologic concepts, historical geology of the Appalachian Mountains, and hydrology and environmental geology. Qualitative, directed content analysis of interviews show results indicating that there was a change in outdoor recreation self-efficacy beliefs due to experiences which took place at the camp program and that campers each had unique experiences related to the main sources and processes of self-efficacy, especially in the context of OR activities and experiences. These described experiences aligned with Bandura's (1977) main sources of self-efficacy and the physiological processes reported fit with his described processes through which self-efficacy beliefs are formed. Notably, the following factors most often impacted all interviewed participants' perceptions and beliefs about their OR-related selfefficacy: confidence levels, the perceived challenge of activities, self-described strong motivation levels to participate in OR activities, coping abilities related to difficult or risky OR activities, previous experiences, and a high interest in OR activities prior to attending the camp.

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An Exploration of Summer Science Camps as an Informal Learning Environment

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

Kitchen Chemistry Boosts STEM Identity and Increases STEM Career Interests

Kitchen Chemistry Boosts STEM Identity and Increases STEM Career Interests

Learning Society in Accelerating the Increase of English Understanding and Communicating at Mahesa Putri English Camp

Adolescent Adventures in Geology: Impacts of Geoscience-focused STEM Education Combined with Recreation Activities on Adolescents’ Perceived Self-Efficacy

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