| This dissertation focused upon non-formal and informal learning practices and knowledge production amongst [adult] participants involved in local sea turtle conservation practices along the US Atlantic coast. In the United States, adult learning and adult education has historically occurred within non-formal settings (e.g., through community-based organizations) and/or as informal education (e.g., self-directed). In recent years, research focused upon non-formal and informal sites of learning and knowledge production has increased and includes learning experiences specific for different age groups. These increases in research on informal and non-formal learning practices and knowledge production have occurred within the field of education (proper) and within non-education fields and disciplines of study as well.;This dissertation project was an ethnographic study of three North Carolina communities of practice (scientists, state park employees and citizen volunteers) that emerged concomitant with their respective concerns about sea turtle conservation along North Carolina's Atlantic coast. The community of practice concept belongs to an intellectual tradition of social learning theories that regards the following elements as potential features affecting learning: identity formation, practice, social structure, and situated experience.;The study focused upon how ecological knowledge was learned and produced by participants in three, local North Carolina sea turtle conservation communities of practice. Additionally, what kinds of collective senses of interaction between humans and non-humans were developed in the conservation activities undertaken by the State, scientists, and citizen volunteers? And how did individuals learn and develop these concepts and practices of connection in their daily lives?;The study is significant for interdisciplinary research interests in cultural anthropology, ecology, cognitive science, and for research interests in education with foci centered upon non-formal and informal learning practices. Specific, area topics addressed by this study are learning, knowledge production, and human development in complex, ecological systems. |
