Current Research

Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs)

Presentations at Conferences

Evaluation

Generic Learning Outcomes

What is Informal Learning? How do we find evidence of Learning?

Techniquest’s mission is to engage people with science and motivate them to learn more.

The learning that takes place in Techniquest is ‘informal’ in contrast to the ‘formal’ learning that takes place in the classroom.

When we are defining what we want pupils to gain from Techniquest’s educational activities, we are guided by the National Curriculum and its specific demands. However, we desire other outcomes also. We want visitors to enjoy the experience, to feel inspired, to develop a positive attitude to science, and to want to become more involved in science whether it be to study science at school or University, or simply to watch science programmes in the media, or to read science books. We are looking for the same end result for our public visitors, too.

To find evidence of the learning outcomes of a visit to Techniquest, Techniquest has adapted a framework developed by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at Leicester University. This framework has been adopted by all museums, libraries, and archives across the UK, and, increasingly, is being used by Science Discovery Centres. It uses a model called the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs).

In this model, individual learning experiences of all kinds – creative, intellectual and social – are organised into five major categories:

  1. Knowledge and understanding: learning facts, making sense of something, deepening understanding, making links and relationships, knowing how museums operate;
  2. Skills: learning new skills, such as reading, thinking critically, making judgments (intellectual); locating, evaluating and using information (information management); meeting people, sharing, team working (social); recognizing the feelings of others, managing feelings (emotional); writing, speaking, listening (communications); running, dancing, making (physical);
  3. Attitudes and values: feelings and perceptions, opinions or attitudes about oneself or others, empathy, increased motivation, positive and negative attitudes in relation to an experience;
  4. Enjoyment, inspiration and creativity: having fun, being surprised, innovative thoughts or actions, creativity, exploration and experimentation, being inspired;
  5. Activity, behaviour and progression: what people do, intend to do, and have done; reported or observed actions, a change in the way people manage their lives.

Different exhibitions and events will deliver different patterns of learning outcomes; some are more strongly based around skill-based outcomes, others around cognitive, and not all GLOs will be applicable for all events and activities.

The merits of the GLOs are that they:

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