Oregon Sea Grant

Coastal Learning and Decision Making

Sea Grant Professorship in Free-Choice Learning

John Falk and Lynn Dierking
Science and Math Education
Oregon State University
237 and 235 Weniger Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331-6508
Phone: 541-737-1826 (John) 541-737-1823 (Lynn)
Fax: 541-737-1817
Email: Dr. Falk | Dr. Dierking
On the Web:
Masters Degree in Free-Choice Learning

Oregon Sea Grant has dedicated special funding over a five-year period to establish a Sea Grant professorship at Oregon State University. Shared jointly by Lynn Dierking and John Falk, the professorship uses the theme of ocean and coastal science to focus on research, teaching and pedagogy in free-choice learning.

Most of what we know, we learn outside the classroom, and we continue to learn throughout our lives by free choice. As a nation, we have made and continue to make a substantial investment in providing learning opportunities for the public in a wide variety of venues such as museums, aquaria, and interpretive centers. At the same time, an enormous quantity of printed material, videos, films, and other media is produced and distributed annually for the purpose of public education. Yet there is relatively little effort underway to advance the art and science of public education through research and teaching in such free-choice learning.

Dierking and Falk, long-time experts in the subject, share the inaugural professorship, and a number of students have enrolled in the newly established FCL Masters program through OSU's College Department of Science and Mathematics Education.  

Learn more

• Oregon Sea Grant Free-Choice Learning Program Website
• A comprehensive approach to fostering the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education leaders. (Journal article. L. Dierking, The New Educator 6:297-309).
• Lessons from the Magic Planet. (Terra magazine, 2009)
• Free-choice learning challenges traditional math, science education 
• Leaders in free-choice learning receive national honors
• Surveys confirm enormous value in science museums, free-choice learning 
• Rural library outreach a new initiative in free-choice learning