CONNECT: Design the classroom of tomorrow by using advanced technologies to connect formal and informal learning environments.

Vision

Imagine an educational environment in which youngsters at the age of seven or eight, in addition to-or perhaps instead of-attending a formal school, have the opportunity to enroll in a children’s museum, a science museum, or some kind of discovery center or exploratorium. As part of this educational scene, adults are present who actually practice the disciplines or crafts represented by the various exhibits. Computer programmers are working in the technology center, zookeepers and zoologists are tending the animals, workers form a bicycle factory assemble bicycles in front of the children’s eyes...During the course of their schooling, youngsters enter into separate apprenticeships with a number of these adults. If we are to configure an education for understanding, suited for the students of today and for the world of tomorrow, we need to take the lessons of the museum and the relationships of the apprenticeship extremely seriously. Not, perhaps, to convert each school into a museum, nor each teacher into a master, but rather to think of the ways in which the strengths of a museum atmosphere, of  apprenticeship learning, and of engaging projects can pervade all educational environments from home to school to workplace (Gardner, 1991).

Connect is a three years IST project co-funded by EU which started in February 2004. It proposes to create a learning environment that combines effective informal learning strategies with exemplary formal curricular activities in an attractive learning environment that utilizes cutting edge information and communication technologies in science education. Three sectors are of outmost importance: science, education and technology. It is what the project’s logo represents. To put it simply, CONNECT aims to combine science teaching in schools with science learning in science centers or museums with the aid of emerging technologies.

The project creates a network of museums, science centres and schools across Europe, to develop, apply and evaluate learning schemes that builds on the strengths of formal and informal strategies. The proposed approach impacts the fields of instructional technology, educational systems design and museum education. It explores the integration of physical and computational media for the design of interactive learning environments to support learning about complex scientific phenomena.

Objectives

The overall objective is to create learning environments which allow students to interact physically and intellectually with instructional materials through 'hands on' experimentation and 'minds on' reflection. To succeed in that specific methods have been identified:

• Develop an innovative pedagogical framework that attempts to blend formal and informal learning and to situate learning in real-world contexts.
• Implement this framework in an attractive learning environment, the Virtual Science Thematic Park, using advanced information and communication technologies.
• Develop a systematic evaluation methodology, to assure maximal usability and optimal adaptation to the local environments and to identify the impact of the proposed approach and its educational potential in different (educational and cultural) settings.
• Enable students to become independent learners and to adopt and use the scientific approach as a tool throughout their lives.

The CONNECT project consortium suggests that learning contexts and learning methods should be mixed, in order to provide an effective blend of learning experiences. In particular, compulsory school contexts should include informal learning experiences, such as school based field trips, student projects, community based science youth programs, casual visits to informal learning settings, and the press and electronic media.

In the past, there was a strong link between learning contexts and methods; for example, it was assumed that the compulsory school context was tightly linked with formal learning methods, while the free choice (out of school) context was linked with informal learning methods. This link is at best artificial and at worst harmful to the pedagogy of science teaching and learning. It is artificial because a person's knowledge of science cannot be limited to what is learned in schools, and it can be harmful by limiting the types of learning opportunities available to students.

Key Issues

• Enhance the cooperation between teachers, pedagogical experts, staff of science museums, and researchers who develop new educational technologies and activities.
• Provide platforms for "learning to learn" situations and a range of teaching approaches that will encourage experimental, theoretical, and multi-disciplinary skills.
• Create virtual learning communities of students and educators, enhancing communication and collaboration within these communities.