Applications of Experiential Learning in Science Education Non-Formal Contexts

Education represents a process in constant evolution, which continuously adapts its structure and vision, objectives and strategies in order to successfully meet the challenges and significant changes occurring in society, but also in the psychical structure of its actors. As a suitable alternative to traditional learning, the experiential learning directly capitalizes skills and attitudes related to critical thinking and problem solving, being less anchored in mechanical learning and memorizing. The experiential learning includes learning by doing, through experience, through exploration and discovery, having the aim to teach the student how to learn, to develop his/her skills by individual work, to emphasize his/her creativity and originality, but also its self-confidence. The paper has an exploratory character, its aim being to discover how experiential learning can influence the students motivation, knowledge transfer, creativity, self-confidence and how may be created learning opportunities, which can influence development of metacognitive skills, practical and independent work skills, exploratory skills and efficient learning through non-formal activities. The paper also highlights on the students’ perception related to their involvement in a series of non-formal activities, organized in the frame of the EU FP7 project entitled: “IRRESISTIBLE - Including Responsible Research and Innovation in Cutting Edge Science and Inquiry-based Science Education to Improve Teachers Ability of Bridging Learning Environments”, and dedicated to the promoting of cutting-edge scientific subjects, together with the disseminating of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) dimensions. The feed-back offered by the students - who expressed their degree of interest and their openness to such activities - led to the conclusion that those contexts could create proper opportunities to facilitate the knowledge transfer, emphasizing more on developing practical skills and producing a sustainable learning.