NSTA Informal Science Day offered a wide variety of networking opportunities and presentations. From noon to 2, attendees had a chance to have lunch while listening to Andrew Shouse and Philip Bell and their colleagues from the National Research Council address the topic How Students Learn Science When They Are Not in School.
Bell and Shouse presented highlights from the recent NRC report, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, enlightening the audience about how designed settings can support science learning for diverse learners and serve as a resource for classroom teachers, and the powerful role cultural diversity plays in all learning settings. (To learn more about this report, read the NSTA Reports article.)