Informal science education. Science museums and science fairs

Abstract

The importance of informal and non-formal science education both out and in-school is being widely recognized. Across all age levels and school grades, including at pre-school and on lifelong learning, a large number of initiatives and projects were developed in different countries and contexts exploring non-formal and informal science education. Among those science fairs, in hands-on inquiry-based approaches, and later one interactive hands-on science centers and museums, are particularly relevant. In this keynote lecture I will briefly present the Portuguese experience based mostly on the activities of the Portuguese National Agency for Scientific Culture, Ciência Viva, and of the Hands-on Science Network, HSCI.By the end of the 20th century, in 1996, the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology created the Ciência Viva (“alive science”) program to promote science education and culture in Portugal. A large number of very interesting projects in Portuguese schools were financed. Most were in-school formal education but projects in non-formal and informal contexts involving hand-on activities soon gained more relevance. Several science museums (the Ciência Viva centers) were established. Today the 21 Ciência Viva Centers cover all Portuguese regions. All museums are mostly interactive and support and implement a wide variety of hands-on activities. Some are thematic (water, astronomy, ecosystems, …) and cover all fields of science and age levels. Some are located the major towns but also some are located in small villages using the particular socio-cultural or geographical characteristics of the local region. Since 2011, by initiative of the Hands-on Science Network, annual national science fairs were organised with a focus on the hands-on investigative and inquiry-based process developed by the students in their efforts of discovering science, in a successful attempt to explore the major potential of non-formal and informal Science Education.