Informal learning occurs outside of a traditional classroom setting and is not typically structured or intentional. It involves learning through daily experiences and interactions with one's environment. Some key contexts for informal learning include parks and museums, music rooms, playgrounds, and historical monuments. These settings allow students to engage with exhibits, participate in activities, play, and develop skills in a hands-on manner outside of formal education. Informal learning is an important supplement to formal education that can foster cognitive, social, and physical development in students.

1. ASSIGNMENT
Topic:- Need and importance of informal learning context
Submitted to Submitted by
Lekshmi Miss Amrutha A.V

3. INTRODUCTION
Informal learning is any learning that is not formal learning or non
Formal learning. Informal learning is organized differently than formal
and non formal learning. It has no set objective in terms of learning
outcomes and is never intentional from the learner’s stand point. Often it
is referred to as learning by experience or just as experience. Informal
learning is a persistent and perceive on going phenomena of learning in
contrast with the traditional view of teacher centered learning .It is often
conflated with non formal learning, self directed learning. It is widely
used in the context of cooperate training and education in relation to
return –on-investment (ROI) or return-on-learning (ROL). It is also
widely used in relation to citizen science or informal science education .
Informal learning is a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire
attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience. It is just
like riding a bicycle; the rider chooses the destination and the route.
Informal learning environments which assist science education and
complete the educations at schools are effective in helping students
gaining cognitive, emotional and psycho motor behaviors. These

4. environments provide untapped potential to engage teachers in
Professional enhancement that integrates professionalism, content, and
Pedagogy. Students also improve their social skills by carrying out oral
Communication in these places. Education programmes which give
students the opportunity to use their sense organs more and include
various group activities provide great benefits for students in connection
with gaining knowledge and experience thus, educational programmes
are suggested to be planned by considering students interests and
needs, without neglecting the environment factor.
Informal education, which is composed of an individual’s interaction
with his – her environment and is not planned, scheduled or controlled,
is sometimes more efficient than formal education in the process of
behavior change and gaining new behaviors. Informal education
programs which are not organized in a short time and solely with the aim
of entertainment are possibly being more effective. Its effectiveness
possibly is increased when it is organized around predetermined set of
goals and the efficiency of the activities are considered.

5. SOME INFORMAL LEARNING CONTEXTS
PARK AND MUSEUM
Informal learning institutions such as Museums, zoos,
Conservation parks, Music rooms, Playgrounds, Historical monuments,
Planetarium etc. often represent a valuable alternative for parents when
Searching for activities that forester both entertaining and educational
outcomes along their children. Museums and other informal learning
settings like Parks, art gallery can invite students to become engaged in
exhibits and activities. Museums are designs for learning. It embody
views about what ‘s is worth learning, and the way that artworks, objects
and historical material are presented- from exhibitions to architecture to
wall texts-embody views about how learning happens.
MUSIC ROOM
Music room also plays an important role in promoting informal
education among students. Informal learning always starts with music,
which the learners choose for themselves. Therefore tends to be music
which they already know and understand, like enjoy and identify with it.

6. This is distinct from most formal education settings. In which the main
idea is introduce learners to music that they do not already know and
which is usually selected by the teacher.
PLAY GROUND
Play ground is another important context which influences informal
education. It is a place where children’s play can take off and flourish.
There are two fundamental reasons why outdoor play is critical for
young children. First, many of the development tasks that children must
achieve exploring, risk taking, fine and gross motor development and the
absorption of vast amounts of basic knowledge can be most effectively
learned through outdoor play. Second our culture is taking outdoor play
away from young children through excessive TV and computer use, un
safe neighborhoods, busy and tired parents, elimination of school recess
and academic standards that push more and more developmentally
inappropriate academics into our early childhood programmes thus
taking time away from play. Outdoor play thus, enables young children
to learn lots and lots of things about the world.

7. HISTORICAL MONUENTS
Teaching with historic places is a wonderful model to teach it helps
Teachers to reach some of the goals and standards established by the
National Standards for the Teaching of History. And it does so because
it allows students to develop thinking skills, reasoning skills, historical
thinking skills, interpretation, and the kinds of skills that they are going
to need to think through things in their future. The value of using
historic places to teach history even though we are not there at the site is
that they help to bring history alive in a very, very specific and unique
contest. The historic environment provided a focus and resource for
lifelong learning about the human past and how people have inhabited to
land scape and used natural resources through time.
PLANETARIUM
Planetarium is another context which influences informal education. A
Planetarium is a theater built primarily by for presenting educational and
Entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in
celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is the
large dome shaped projection screen on to which scenes of stars, planets

8. and other celestial objects can be made to appear and move realistically
to stimulate the complex motions of the heavens. The celestial scenes
can be created using a wide variety of technologies, for example
precision – engineered star balls that compaine optical and electro-
mechanical technology, slide projector, vedio and full dome projector
systems , and lasers.
Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology
(ANERT)
It is an autonomous organization established in 1986 by the govt of
Kerala. Now it is functioning under the department of power. The
objective of the Agency is to gather and disseminate useful knowledge
in various fields of Non conventional energy, Energy Conservation and
Rural Technology; conduct studies, demonstrate, implement and
support implementation of schemes and project in these fields and
thereby deal with the problems arising out of the rapid depletion of
conventional energy sources ; update he technologies used in rural areas
as well as introduce appropriate new technologies with an aim to reduce
drudgery, increase production and improve quality of life.
Environmental Education (EE), Biodiversity conversation, Exsitic

9. conservation, Insitic conservation, Natural resources, goods and services
of wetlands, Agrifarms and Krishi bhavans etc are other important
informal agencies working in Kerala.

10. CONCLUSION
It may be concluded that Informal learning is a lifelong process
whereby students can acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge
from daily activities. Research has suggested that diversifying and
increasing the frequency of activities that children are interested in
strongly affects the improvement of abilities they acquire at school.

11. REFERENCES
Dr. Mariamma Mathew (2014), Teaching Science for Biological and
physical science.
Dr. A Shivarajan , Science Education, Calicut University