New Education Normal: Supporting Informal STEM Learning at Home

On 24 August 2021, Dr Sherry Hsi, BSCS Science Learning Principal Scientist, spoke at the New Education Normal webinar series on “Supporting Informal STEM Learning at Home”.

Informal learning environments such as museums, libraries, and community centres provide a variety of opportunities for school-aged children to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in a different setting from a classroom. With COVID-19, these informal learning environments have had to pivot to online learning to continue to provide quality STEM learning experiences for the children.

In her talk, Dr Hsi shared about the importance of informal STEM learning and gave examples of adaptations created by museums, libraries, etc., during the COVID-19 pandemic, which made use of everyday materials and open educational resources for STEM learning to continue for children at home. She also discussed how STEM education will need to continue to adapt and transform during and after the COVID-19 pandemic—for example, how hybrid learning is likely to remain a mainstay of STEM education in the future.

The session wrapped up with an engaging question and answer segment, moderated by Prof Looi Chee Kit, from the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group in NIE, and was attended by approximately 60 people from around the world.

Watch the recording of the session here: