Linking In-School and Out-of-School Learning

Schools are embedded in a larger landscape of learning opportunities, some of them spontaneous and everyday and some of them occurring by design in community-based organizations, museums, clubs, and other organizations that are equipped to facilitate robust and enriching [Page 446]learning experiences. There are learning resources, opportunities, and organizational practices and structures that are unique to formal (school) and informal (out-of-school) learning contexts. In conceptualizing learning pathways, it is important to understand the features of cross-context experiences that can enhance or disrupt learning for youth as they cross formal and informal learning boundaries. This entry identifies several ways to conceptualize linkages between in-school and out-of-school contexts, all of which are consistent with a learning ecology perspective, which recognizes that schools are not the only places ...