초록
Students experience science not only through school science lessons but also through various other channels. Science-related facilities, including science museums and centers, are important channels for informal science education. Korea has a number of governmental and private facilities in which young people can experience various aspects of scientific activities, and many of them also provide the programs supporting out-of-school science activities. However, there has been no systematic survey study on those facilities providing out-of-school activities, thus they have not been used effectively as well as their social utility is not fully realized. To this end, in 2002 researchers of this study carried out surveys (1) of the facilities supporting out-of-school science activities and (2) of science programs provided by these facilities. The surveys show that there are approximately 180 facilities supporting science activities in Korea. More than 40% of them are located in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. Among them, the proportion of special theme science museums was the greatest (37.9%). The facilities supporting out-of-school science activities usually do not target the specific age groups but are intended for all people. The proportion of governmental facilities exceeds that of private ones. 41.8% of the facilities examined in this study run their own science activity programs. Among the 10 categories of the programs, 'science class' type programs were the most common. There were more programs for elementary and middle school students than preschoolers, high school students and adults. The contents of the programs were more related to astronomy and meteorology, the observation of living things and field trips. Despite their high practical potential, the special theme science museums were found to be lacking in relevant programs, which could fulfill their values for informal science education.
