What is Informal Science Education

The out-of-doors provides unique opportunities to engage youth in the natural environment and to teach STEM content in a more informal setting. In this chapter, the authors share findings from a study focused on elementary-aged students as they participated in a week-long herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians) program at an environmental education center. Informal science education centers provide a context for participants to use STEM to address local, place-based issues, exercise agency in how they practice autonomy within learning activities, and broaden their perceptions of what it means to “do science” through participation in normative scientific practices. However, there is a dearth of literature addressing the use and benefits of environmental education. Using a lens focused on agency and normative scientific practices, the authors examine the ways engagement in environmental education impact participants' perceptions of their abilities to engage in STEM-related practices.