MODELS OF ADULT PARTICIPATION IN INFORMAL SCIENCE EDUCATION (MUSEUMS, MAGAZINES, TELEVISION, LITERACY).

Abstract

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185 p.

The primary research question addressed by this study was to what extent can sociodemographic characteristics explain participation in adult education (PAE). Having been broadly defined by previous research, PAE was operationalized as three distinct activities, science and technology museum visitation (STMV), science magazine reading (SMR), and science television program viewing (STPV). Given these three processes for informal science education, this study asked what the structural relationship of participation in STMV, SMR, and STPV was. To address the research questions, secondary analysis of a national data set was completed.Through loglinear path and logit techniques, it was demonstrated that for STMV and SMR, sociodemographics provided substantial explanation of differences observed. For STPV, interest in science or technology demonstrated explanatory power exceeding that of sociodemographics. Overall, the best predictors of participation in informal science education were level of formal education and interest in science or technology. The same general pattern of associations between sociodemographics and PAE were demonstrated in relation to participation in informal science education as those observed in relation to participation in organized instruction. However, different characteristics were associated with PAE depending upon its operationalized form.The study concluded that sociodemographics can substantially explain PAE when it is operationalized as a specific activity dealing with a specific topical area, and when the methodology employed is substantively compatible with the question being asked. The process defined by the study is suggested as the appropriate way to study PAE. It provides explanations that are conceptually meaningful and profiles of the "typical participant" served by the particular form of adult education studied.