Investigations of informal learning in science using postage stamps with some Victorian ten-year-old children

Master of EducationPrimary school children learn matters of a scientific nature through many sources of informal learning. These include radio, television, newspapers, comics, books, mother, father, films, travel, museums, zoos, animal parks, gardens, youth groups and other sources. This thesis concerns three investigations of informal learning in science using observations of postage stamps having 'science' themes with 21 10 year-old children attending Victorian Independent schools. In the first, each child was asked what the word 'science' meant to him or her. Then, a number of Australian and Malaysian postage stamps depicting animals were handed to each. The participant was asked to sort them into any arrangement that appealed, but such that all the stamps could be viewed at once by an observer. Each child was asked the basis for his or her arrangement. Each arrangement was photographed and examined for signs consistent with any informal knowledge of the hierarchical classification of the animals depicted. In the second, Malaysian stamps were used to enhance the children's observation of postage stamps and, through this guided observation, they learned previously unknown features of Malaysia. In the third, seven cards, all but one displaying a postage stamp or a set of postage stamps having a 'science' theme, were observed and discussed one at a time with each child. The form of discussion was such that ideas of a scientific nature, probably learned through previous informal learning, were identified. Some of their sources were identified by the children. From these interviews some evidence was obtained which supported the hypotheses: 1. That 'Science' has a variety of connotations in the minds of the 10 year-olds, most suggesting experimental activity. 2. That the children showed little evidence of informal learning associated with a hierarchical classification of the animals depicted, other than in terms of 'air, land and water' in some cases. 3. That the 10 year-olds learned previously unknown facts about Malaysia through guided observation of Malaysian postage stamps. 4. That the stamps in the third investigation acted as stimuli to memory-recall of matters related to the subjects depicted on the stamps. Many of the children's responses provided comments which reflected the children's ideas on some scientific matters. The thesis supports the idea that the use of selected postage stamps as described is one means of investigating the nature, extent and sources of informal learning in science in some Victorian 10 year-old children. It also illustrates the use of postage stamps in the design of science instruction for possible use in primary schooling