Informal vs Formal learning settings

I have learnt this topic under formal and informal education settings.  The pleasure from the learning in both settings was gaining knowledge.  In informal setting, there were no strict what I had to do.  It is definitely life-long education process.   On the other hand, in the academic formal setting I could feel the accomplishment because it was very clear ending day.  At the same time I got a lot of stress for assignment dues and grade.  One thing that I can say is we need to continue to learn the topic either in informal or formal since the situation and information in the world are always changing.

• Informal, but structured

I joined the program, Master Recycler Vancouver, in 2015.  The program was hosted  by the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation’s (SPEC) , and participants are trained to become an expert about reducing wastes from the community by the field experts in the recycling field and community members who are active in zero waste movement.  We went to field trips, different recycling facilities in Metro Vancouver (place learning), had guest speaker with the filmmaker of the “Just Eat It” , even we tried to taste fly larvae.  Waste audit, scaling and recording own waste, was a good experimental learning and method to give awareness and connection of the topic.  Also, it is easy to see the result, whether we reduce the own waste in weeks, by number.  Therefore, a lot of classmates in the program seemed getting motivation more towards zero waste.

As 30 hours outreach in the community was required for the certificate, I did with two colleges as an Educational Outreach Team (masterrecycler.edu@gmail.com if you would like to contact us) of the program, to the public school events.  We did not only display some panels nor give a lecture about the effect of plastic in environment, but also walk around in the “plastic bag monster”, I was in the plastic bag suit.  It was attractive for any age groups and it induced the conversation about plastic bag problems.  As I had to give the information and answer any questions in the plastic bag monster, I felt that I had a responsibility to the students and I tried to remember what I learned in the program.  Teaching and sharing the knowledge to others are one of the best ways of learning.

• Formal, Academic setting at the University of British Columbia as undergrad student

– Research in Environmental Geography,GEOG 419, with a community partner, individual research  –

It was very structured course studying how to research and  publish research paper in academia: for example, I learned ethic review (I got TCPS2 Core Certificate in January 2016), literature review, and etc.  At the same time I could connect the outside of school by interviewing.  It was very challenging since I needed to do every process by myself.  I learned also technology part (google slide) for a presentation.  The community partner was very flexible.  Therefore, I could focus the topic that I was interested in at that time, how small business can improve their zero waste (how they can be in the circular economy).  The paper is Recommendations for Independently-owned Vancouver Cafes to Achieve Zero Waste.

– Environmental Psychology, PSYC321- research on campus as a team –

We did three-week-data collection and statistical analysis as a team on The Impact of Mirrors on Sustainable Waste Behavior.  The benefit of working as a team is sharing each knowledge and opinion, and making better paper than individually research.  Collecting data, weighing garbage in each bin by category, was a dirty task but it was a good experience to see the real situation.  There have been a lot of research projects about environmental related topics on campus.  You can check at SEEDS Sustainability Library.

More posts about Zero Waste: