Preliminary Material / Karen S. Sullenger and R. Steven Turner -- CRYSTAL Atlantique—The Story / Karen S. Sullenger and R. Steven Turner -- Introduction / R. Steven Turner -- Engagement: The Importance of Research-Intensive Experiences / K. Ghandi , B. A. Taylor , R. L. Hawkes and S. A. Milton -- An Exploration of Summer Science Camps as an Informal Learning Environment / Truis Smith-Palmer , Sabine Schnepf , Ann Sherman , Karen S. Sullenger and Leo MacDonald -- Technology Enhanced Problem-Based Learning / Tang-Ho Lê and Charline Jenkins Godin -- Introduction / David Wagner -- Common Sense and Necessity in (Ethno)Mathematics / David Wagner and Lisa Lunney Borden -- Assessing Difficulty Level in Mathematical Problem Solving in Informal Online Environments / Ildikó Pelczer and Viktor Freiman -- The Challenge of Understanding Young Learners’ Experiences in Informal Settings/Contexts / Ann Sherman and Leo MacDonald -- Teachers’ Experiences Developing an Innovative Science Program / Essie Lom and Karen S. Sullenger -- Introduction / Essie Lom -- Pedagogical Tools That Help Students Pose and Solve Environmental Problems / Diane Pruneau , Pierre-Yves Barbier , Fernando Daniels , Viktor Freiman , Emil Paun , Adriana Nicu , Jimmy Therrien , Joanne Langis , Monique Langis , Nicole Lirette-Pitre and Penelopia Iancu -- Informal Learning and the Problem of Disengagement in Science / Karen S. Sullenger and R. Steven Turner -- Studying Science Afterschool / Karen S. Sullenger and Debby Peck -- Insights and Introspections / Ensemble -- Publications and Presentations / Karen S. Sullenger and R. Steven Turner -- Index / Karen S. Sullenger and R. Steven Turner.

Between 2004 and 2009, university educators, practicing scientists, museum and science-centre personnel, historians, and K-12 teachers in Canada’s eastern Atlantic provinces came together as a research community to investigate informal learning in science, technology, and mathematics. The interdisciplinary collaboration, known as CRYSTAL Atlantique, was sponsored by Canada’s National Science and Engineering Research Council. In this volume, the CRYSTAL participants look back on their collective experience and describe research projects that pushed the boundaries of informal teaching and learning. Those projects include encounters between students and practicing scientists in university laboratories and field studies; summer camps for science engagement; after-school science clubs for teachers and students; innovative software for computer assisted learning; environmental problem-solving in a comparative, international context; online communities devoted to solving mathematical problems; and explorations of ethonomathematics among Canadian aboriginal peoples. The editors and contributors stress the need for research on informal learning to be informed continuously by a notion of science as culture, and they analyze the forms of resistance that studies of informal learning frequently encounter. Above all, they urge a more central place for informal science learning in the larger agenda of educational research today.

Description based on print version record.