Science learning through scouting: an understudied context for informal science education

Worldwide, voluntary youth organizations such as the Scouts and Guides attract a large following. As part of their programme they provide science experiences for children and young people. From a research perspective, however, this context for informal science education has gone largely unexamined. This study explores the field, focusing on the Cub Scouts that cater, in the UK, for children aged between 8 and 10.5 years. The investigation involved an e‐mail survey, in‐depth interviews with 10 leaders, short interviews with 10 Cub Scouts and an unscripted role‐play performed by the children. Documented is a distinctive and engaging out‐of‐school science provision for participants. The research revealed this learning experience to have features that, in terms of a continuum spanning formal to informal, lay more toward the informal than anticipated in respect of curriculum and assessment, although not pedagogy. The children’s responses, affective and cognitive, suggest a fruitful area for further study.