Informal learning
Typical mechanisms of informal learning include trial and error or learning-by-doing, modeling, feedback, and reflection.
Estimates suggest that about 70-90 percent of adult learning takes place informally and outside educational institutions.
The conflated meaning of informal and non-formal learning explicates mechanisms of learning that organically occur outside the realm of traditional instructor-led programs, e.g., reading self-selected books, participating in self-study programs, navigating performance support materials and systems, incidental skills practice, receptivity of coaching or mentoring, seeking advice from peers, or participation in communities of practice, to name a few.
Informal learning is common in communities where individuals have opportunities to observe and participate in social activities.
Building on this work by Dewey and Follett, the American educator Eduard C. Lindemann first used the term "informal learning".
Merriam et al. in 2007 stated:[16] Informal learning, Schugurensky (2000) suggests, has its own internal forms that are important to distinguish in studying the phenomenon.
An example is the process where children learn slash-and-burn agriculture by being present in the situation and contributing when possible.
[24] Child work, alongside and combined with play, occupies an important place in American Indigenous children's time and development.
An example of two-year-old Indigenous Mexican girl participating in digging-the-holes project with her mother highlights children's own initiation to help, after watching, and enthusiasm to share the task with family and community.
[27] The circumstances of everyday routine create opportunities for the culturally meaningful activities and sensitive interactions on which a child's development depends.
[32] The learning and teaching practices of traditional Indigenous Americans generally prioritize harmony and cooperation over personal gain.
In order to achieve mutual respect in teachings, what is often relied on in Indigenous American culture is nonverbal communication.
Children in this community learn about growing crops by observing the actions and respect adults have for the land.
Similarly, when children participate in rituals, they learn the importance of being part of the community by watching how everyone interacts.
The lack of verbal reprimand or warning from an adult or elder enable the child to assimilate his surroundings more carefully.
Informal learning often takes place outside educational establishments, and does not follow a specified curriculum and may originate accidentally, or sporadically, in association with certain occasions, although that is not always the case.
Informal education can occur in the formal arena when concepts are adapted to the unique needs of individual students.
It has also been estimated that the great majority (upwards of 70 percent) of learning in the workplace is informal ... although billions of dollars each year are spent by business and industry on formal training programs".
Although rates of formal education have increased, many adults entering the workforce are lacking the basic math, reading and interpersonal skills that the "unskilled" labor force requires.
[47] The lines between formal and informal learning have been blurred due to the higher rates of college attendance.
The largest increase in population for manual or low-skilled labor is in individuals who attended college but did not receive a degree.
[47] The rates of men entering the low-skilled labor force have remained static over the last fifty years, indicating a shift of less than 1%.
Women's participation in the unskilled labor force has steadily increased and projections indicate that this trend will continue.
Of these three, informal learning may be the most difficult to quantify or prove, but it remains critical to an individual's overall cognitive and social development throughout the lifespan.
