Students Found to Pick Up Science Outside School

Informal science activities, such as trips to museums and zoos, viewing of television shows, and even discussions between parents and children, have the power to improve students’ learning in that subject and their appreciation for it, a national study released today concludes.

Out-of-school science programs have become increasingly popular in recent years, as public officials and private organizations have sought to build academic skills during nonschool hours, the authors say.

Evaluating informal science programs is difficult, partly because the exact knowledge that students pick up from museum visits and other activities—such as making sense of the natural world—is not readily tested. Assessing students’ skills in informal environments can also run counter to the purpose of those activities, which is to present science in a fun and relatively unstructured...