The University of Pittsburgh School of Education is an international leader in understanding and supporting learning as it happens in out-of-school environments, such as museums, youth community programs, and family settings. Our faculty members and graduate students are pursuing studies that explore the unique and special power of informal learning environments: the intrinsic motivation, the connection to self-identity, the social nature of learning, and the positive impact on youth de...
UPCLOSE featured tents and booths at the annual Allegheny County Sanitary Authority open house and festival in September 2014. In response to the coming challenges of climate change in the northeastern United States, many organizations around Pittsburgh have joined the Climate & Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP). CUSP is a five- year $5.9 million National Science Foundation grant awarded to four major science museums and two major university partners in four cities in the mid-Atla...
The Learning and Research Department at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is composed of a small team of researchers and practitioners who are working in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out- of-School Environments (UPCLOSE) to meaningfully change the face of informal learning here in Pittsburgh as well as on a national level. The focus of much of our research and practice is on “making” as a learning process. Making is a process involving lea...
The overall field of informal learning has emerged through the study of museums, and the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE) is continuing that rich tradition. Natural history museums contain specimens that serve as the scientific record of the natural world. Collections in these museums are cared for by on- staff scientists and curators who also research the collections. The potential for students to learn from original collections i...