Practitioners in informal science settings-museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, libraries, aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens-are interested in finding out what learning looks like, how to measure it, and what they can do to ensure that people of all ages, from different backgrounds and cultures, have a positive learning experience. Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments, is designed to make that task easier. Based on the National Research Council study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, this book is a tool that provides case studies, illustrative examples, and probing questions for practitioners. In short, this book makes valuable research accessible to those working in informal science: educators, museum professionals, university faculty, youth leaders, media specialists, publishers, broadcast journalists, and many others.

This book provides a diverse look at various aspects of preparing informal science educators. Much has been published about the importance of preparing formal classroom educators, but little has been written about the importance, need, and best practices for training professionals who teach in aquariums, camps, parks, museums, etc. The reader will find that as a collective the chapters of the book are well-related and paint a clear picture that there are varying ways to approach informal educator preparation, but all are important. The volume is divided into five topics: Defining Informal Science Education, Professional Development, Designing Programs, Zone of Reflexivity: The Space Between Formal and Informal Educators, and Public Communication. The authors have written chapters for practitioners, researchers and those who are interested in assessment and evaluation, formal and informal educator preparation, gender equity, place-based education, professional development, program design, reflective practice, and science communication. Readers will draw meaning and usefulness from the array of professional perspectives and be stimulated to begin a quest to scaffold programs and professional development around the frameworks described in this book.

Over the course of the past decade and a half, we, Samuel Totten and Jon E. Pedersen, have co-edited a series of books on teaching and learning about social issues. Our goal has been to build a series that would broadly represent the work that has been undertaken over the past 110 plus years related to the field of teaching and learning about social issues. As we created and added to the series (see for example: Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field; Researching and Teaching Social Issues: The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts of Professors of Education; Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches), we came to the conclusion that the development of an annotated bibliography of the key works (books, chapters, articles, reports, and research) on a wide-range of issues/topics germane to teaching and learning about social issues was a logical addition to the series. In Educating About Social Issues in the 20th and 21st Centuries Volume 1: A Critical Annotated Bibliography (which was published in early 2012), the focus was on a host of programs, models, strategies and concerns vis-à-vis teaching and learning about social issues. This new book constitutes Volume Two in the series entitled Educating About Social Issues in the Twentieth and Twenty First Centuries and picks up where Volume One left off. Included in this book are the pioneering works of the following: Boyd Bode, Alan F. Griffin, G. Gordon Hullfish, Richard Gross, Robert Yager, and James Banks. Collectively, their work on social issues spans the period between the late 1930s through the present (with James Banks and Robert Yager continuing to publish through today). As for the subjects/topics (other than pioneers of teaching about social issues) addressed in this volume, they are: Issues-Centered Approaches to Teaching Geography, Addressing Social Issues in Sociology and Anthropology Courses, Peace Studies, The Vietnam War, and LBGT.

Informal science is a burgeoning field that operates across a broad range of venues and envisages learning outcomes for individuals, schools, families, and society. The evidence base that describes informal science, its promise, and effects is informed by a range of disciplines and perspectives, including field-based research, visitor studies, and psychological and anthropological studies of learning. Learning Science in Informal Environments draws together disparate literatures, synthesizes the state of knowledge, and articulates a common framework for the next generation of research on learning science in informal environments across a life span. Contributors include recognized experts in a range of disciplines-research and evaluation, exhibit designers, program developers, and educators. They also have experience in a range of settings-museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, aquariums, zoos, state parks, and botanical gardens. Learning Science in Informal Environments is an invaluable guide for program and exhibit designers, evaluators, staff of science-rich informal learning institutions and community-based organizations, scientists interested in educational outreach, federal science agency education staff, and K-12 science educators.

The Handbook of Research on STEM Education represents a groundbreaking and comprehensive synthesis of research and presentation of policy within the realm of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. What distinguishes this Handbook from others is the nature of integration of the disciplines that is the founding premise for the work – all chapters in this book speak directly to the integration of STEM, rather than discussion of research within the individual content areas. The Handbook of Research on STEM Education explores the most pressing areas of STEM within an international context. Divided into six sections, the authors cover topics including: the nature of STEM, STEM learning, STEM pedagogy, curriculum and assessment, critical issues in STEM, STEM teacher education, and STEM policy and reform. The Handbook utilizes the lens of equity and access by focusing on STEM literacy, early childhood STEM, learners with disabilities, informal STEM, socio-scientific issues, race-related factors, gender equity, cultural-relevancy, and parental involvement. Additionally, discussion of STEM education policy in a variety of countries is included, as well as a focus on engaging business/industry and teachers in advocacy for STEM education. The Handbook’s 37 chapters provide a deep and meaningful landscape of the implementation of STEM over the past two decades. As such, the findings that are presented within provide the reader with clear directions for future research into effective practice and supports for integrated STEM, which are grounded in the literature to date.