Informal Science and Mathematics Education and Practice: A Global Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

Informal science and mathematics education has emerged as a critical site for expanding access to STEM learning worldwide (Bell et al., 2009; Xia et al., 2025). As formal education systems face persistent challenges in serving diverse learners, informal settings—museums, afterschool programs, community space and everyday environments—offer flexible, culturally responsive alternatives that reach beyond traditional classroom walls (Dawson et al., 2017; Milton et al., 2023). Global trends toward lifelong learning, community-engaged scholarship and calls for more equitable STEM pathways have positioned informal education as essential infrastructure for building scientific and mathematical literacy (Ludwig et al., 2024; Xia et al., 2025). Yet questions remain about how these spaces can truly serve all learners, honor multiple ways of knowing and challenge rather than reproduce existing inequities (Marin & Bang, 2018). This moment demands critical examination of informal STEM education as both a promising opportunity and a contested terrain where issues of access, power, knowledge and justice play out across diverse cultural and political contexts.

This Special Issue invites contributions that examine informal science and mathematics education from a global perspective. We seek papers that explore how learning outside of formal classrooms, including museums, afterschool programs, community spaces and everyday environments, supports access, equity and culturally responsive practices. We welcome empirical studies, theoretical insights and practitioner reflections that highlight diverse learners, localized knowledge and innovative pedagogies. Submissions should critically engage with the ways informal settings reimagine science and math learning across cultural, social and political contexts.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Knowledge Ecologies Beyond the Classroom
   1. How does science and mathematics knowledge circulate across diverse informal settings?
   2. What are the relationships between formal, informal and everyday learning contexts?
   3. How do multiple knowledge systems and epistemologies coexist in informal STEM?
2. Access, Equity and Justice in Informal STEM
   1. How are informal learning opportunities and resources distributed globally?
   2. What structural barriers and enablers shape participation in informal STEM?
   3. In what ways do informal settings address or perpetuate inequities?
3. Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Practices
   1. How do informal settings honor and build on cultural knowledge?
   2. What pedagogies center diverse learners and communities in informal STEM?
   3. How does cultural specificity shape informal science and mathematics teaching and learning?
4. Transnational Flows and Mobilities in Informal STEM Education
   1. How do people, ideas and practices move across contexts in informal STEM?
   2. In what ways do informal STEM models travel and transform globally?
   3. What role do international partnerships, networks and collaborations play?
5. Post/Colonial Perspectives on Informal STEM Spaces
   1. How do historical legacies shape contemporary informal institutions?
   2. What decolonization efforts are emerging in museums, science centers and programs?
   3. How do power dynamics operate in global informal STEM education?
6. Community-Based and Place-Based Learning
   1. How does localized knowledge inform informal STEM practices?
   2. What role does place play in shaping informal science and mathematics learning?
   3. How do communities exercise ownership and governance of informal learning spaces?
7. Innovation in Informal STEM Pedagogies
   1. What emerging teaching and facilitation approaches are practitioners developing?
   2. What design principles guide effective informal learning environments?
   3. How is practitioner knowledge generated and shared in informal STEM education?

References

Bell, P., Lewenstein, B., Shouse, A. W., & Feder, M. A. (Eds.). (2009). Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits. National Academies Press.

Dawson, E. (2017). Social justice and out-of-school science learning: Exploring equity in science television, science clubs and maker spaces. Science Education, 101(4), 539–547. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21288

Ludwig, C. M., Howsmon, R. A., Stromholt, S., Valenzuela, J. J., Calder, R., & Baliga, N. S. (2024). Consequential insights for advancing informal STEM learning and outcomes for students from historically marginalized communities. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), Article 351. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02797-w

Marin, A., & Bang, M. (2018). “Look it, this is how you know:” Family forest walks as a context for knowledge-building about the natural world. Cognition and Instruction, 36(2), 89–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2018.1429443

Milton, S., Sager, M. T., & Walkington, C. (2023). Understanding Racially Minoritized Girls’ Perceptions of Their STEM Identities, Abilities, and Sense of Belonging in a Summer Camp. Education Sciences, 13(12), 1183. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121183

Xia, X., Bentley, L. R., Fan, X., & Tai, R. (2025). STEM outside of school: A meta-analysis of the effects of informal science education on students' interests and attitudes for STEM. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 23, 1153–1181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-024-10504-z

Prof. Dr. Anthony Petrosino
Dr. Marc Sager
Guest Editors

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• informal learning
• global education
• equity
• STEM
• science education
• mathematics education
• culturally responsive pedagogy
• community-based learning