'Great escapes: encouraging the geographical imagination in informal settings'.
Final call for papers.
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, London, 31 August - 2 September, 2011
Sponsored by Higher Education Research Group, The Geography of Leisure and Tourism Research Group, and Biogeography Research Group
Convenors: Jennifer Hill, Mark McGuinness & Heather Winlow
Whilst formal education is largely classroom-based, education in informal settings denotes learning that goes on outside of the classroom in nature- and community-based settings such as natural areas, zoos, aquariums, museums, science centres, libraries and even virtual worlds. Immersed in such environments, learners can feel less intimidated than they do in a formal classroom, released from rigid curricular constraints and guided much more by experiential learning. Education in informal settings is applicable to undergraduate, postgraduate and lifelong learners and it often takes place in contexts where knowledge can be deployed to solve problems and to change lives. This process can ultimately connect learners with issues and emotions that are intrinsically relevant to them, but does it offer a different pedagogical experience to formal education and if so how can the two be integrated to best advantage?
In this session we wish to inquire into the pedagogy of informal education in order to build theoretical and empirical foundations for more effective informal learning. The session organisers adopt a broad perspective of informal education, stretching, for example, from non-captive visitors to public sites of interest, through self-education via the popular media, to more captive undergraduate student fieldwork activities, work-based learning, place-based learning or community volunteering.
Issues for consideration include, but are not limited to:
What are the features of informal learning environments, materials and/or techniques that positively influence learning and what strategies are effective for reaching specific audiences?
How could informal education be designed and implemented to better achieve important learning goals?
What is the nature of embodied, singular and/or interactive learning in such environments and what are the changes to teacher-learner relations?
What are appropriate cognitive and affective outcomes of education in informal settings (e.g. tacit and explicit knowledge, understanding, motivation, confidence, altered values, attitudes and behaviour)?
Can valid and reliable measurement tools and methodologies be developed to gauge the outcomes or informal learning?
How might informal learning be better integrated into formal learning?
Proposed papers, in the form of an abstract (max. 250 words), should be submitted to the session convenors by Monday 7 February 2009.
For more details, and to submit an abstract, please contact:
Dr Jenny Hill
Department of Geography and Environmental Management
UWE, Bristol, UK
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