A Recipe for Lifelong Learning: A Closer Look at 10 Groups of STEM Hobbyists

• In Event: Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: Lifelong Learning Trajectories: Connections Between Hobbyists and Makers

Abstract

Adults continue to learn about STEM topics long after their compulsory schooling has ended by engaging in free-choice activities in their leisure time. Comparing 2,838 adults who filled out an online questionnaire about their participation in one of ten STEM hobbies (astronomy, beekeeping, birding, electronics/robotics, environmental monitoring, falconry, gardening/horticulture, home brewing, model building, and rock/fossil collecting), this study allows comparisons to be made amongst members of different hobby groups. Results show that nearly half of the hobbyists in the sample became first interested in their hobby during childhood, and that diverse factors (i.e. friends, family, significant events, teachers, other educators) were reported as first getting participants interested in their lifelong hobby in different proportions, by hobby group.

Authors

• Elysa Corin, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

• M. Gail Jones, North Carolina State University

• Thomas Andre, Iowa State University

• Gina Childers, North Carolina State University