Lessons Without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming Education - Softcover

Falk, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0759101604 ISBN 13: 9780759101609

Publisher: AltaMira Press, 2002

Synopsis

This book offers a new understanding of the learning process and guides us in maximizing our lifelong learning journey.

About this title

About the Author:

John Falk and Lynn Dierking are founders and directors of the Institute for Learning Innovation in Annapolis, Maryland. Their books include Learning from Museums, The Museum Experience, and Free-Choice Science Education.

Review:

The strength of Lessons Without Limit: How Free-choice Learning is Transforming Education is in its interweaving of broad examples of individual stories and experiences with sound research based on both theory and experience, offering both challenges and direction. It is highly readable, timely, and should be a must read for educators, curators, exhibition designers, marketers, and, most importantly, directors and leaders. (Muse)

Lessons Without Limit is a book in the tradition of John Dewey, George Leonard, and James Burke. It demonstrates with clear prose and inspiring examples two truths that should be self-evident but are too rarely evident in practice: 1) As human beings, we are wired to learn. We are marvelous, indeed, miraculous learning machines. 2) Learning should be joyful, social, and lifelong. For educators of all stripes, formal and informal, using the old media and the new, these lessons are more timely than ever. (Dr. Milton Chen, Executive Director, The George Lucas Educational Foundation)

This wonderful book brings alive the 'profoundly human' experience of learning, in all its complexity, variety, and joy. Falk and Dierking write with clarity and passion of the many ways human beings learn, and of the diverse resources they use. To pick up this book is to accept their invitation to learn about learning, and to enjoy it immensely. (Joey Rodger, president, Urban Libraries Council)

Like it or not, lifelong learning is getting more essential every year. For those who are not afraid of this opportunity, Lessons Without Limit will serve as a useful and enjoyable guide. (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Claremont Graduate University; author of Flow)

Lessons Without Limit is a lively read that reminds us that learning spans a lifetime; includes a variety of rich experiences and approaches; and is essential for maintaining a healthy, dynamic society. Parents, educators, and media executives will find much to inform their work in this interesting book. (Robert T. Coonrod, president, Corporation for Public Broadcasting)

Lessons Without Limit is a readable, persuasive argument for why 'learning,' not 'education,' needs to be our focus as cultural institutions. Lifelong learning is vital to the health of our communities and Falk and Dierking have made the case for why museums must now look upon their role as a civic responsibility. (Lou Casagrande, chair of the board, American Association of Museums; and president/CEO, The Children's Museum, Boston)

Falk and Dierking's . . . bold ideas for building a national awareness of . . . lifelong learning make this book [a] must-read in our changing world. . . . Though free-choice learning is driven by individual choice and need, the power of this book is that it argues for collective action to support individual lives. The ultimate winner is the community itself, strengthened through knowledge, purpose, and an informed citizenry. (Beverly Sheppard, from the Foreword)

Today the fundamental issue facing museums has shifted yet again. We no longer must decide if museums are educational institutions, but what educational role museums play in our increasingly diverse and sophisticated communities. With Lessons Without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning Is Transforming Education, John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking ask us to change the way we view education in America and in the process provide a vision for the role of museums and other educational institutions in the country's future. . . . Thirty years from now . . . this book by Falk and Dierking may well be seen as a catalyst in the next transformation of museums as educational institutions. (Jim S. H. Hakala, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Museum News)

The authors' enthusiasm for their vision permeates the book. It is written in an engaging and popular style with many personal anecdotes and examples. . . . Their vision is based on considerable study. This is an inspirational and idealistic book, filled with wonderful examples of informal learning experiences and environments. The authors hope to inspire everyone to engage in free-choice learning and certainly succeed in getting the reader to think about all the possibilities beyond the school and beyond the school years where learning can take place. While not a practical, how-to book, it fosters a way of thinking about learning that expands the educational horizon. For the teacher and student teacher, the book offers a panorama of possibilities for engaging students through activities outside the classroom. For home-schoolers, the book offers both support and inspiration. For anyone interested in lifelong learning, Lessons Without Limit offers an ideal toward which society can aspire. (Carla A.Hendrix, Plattsburgh State University of New York Education Review)

Falk and Dierking's Contextual Model of Learning provides a practical framework to use when designing an informal (OK, free-choice) learning program. The book includes a wealth of guidelines for carefully considering each dimension (personal, social, physical) of their model. In brief, I highly recommend this book to parents, educators, and others interested in education outside the classroom. (Robert L. Russell Informal Learning Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: AltaMira Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0759101604
• ISBN 13: 9780759101609
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208