Handbook of Research on Science Education

CHAPTER 6

Learning Science Outside of School

Léonie J. Rennie

Curtin University of Technology, Australia

Unfortunately, there has been a tendency in this country to equate the term education with what happens in the schools or, at most, with what happens in schools, colleges, and universities. This leaves out other agencies and influences that, for better or worse and to greater and lesser degrees, may have a great impact on the knowledge, skill, understanding, appreciation, and judgment of our people: television, radio, motion pictures, the nontextbook press, the family, the back-alley gang, the teachers of private lessons, fairs and expositions, industry (through its greatly expanded training programs), the military, and the museum. (S. ...