Lessons Without Limit - by John Falk & Lynn Dierking (Paperback)

About the Book

Lessons Without Limit is not just another book about school reform but a highly readable guide to transforming the entire experience of learning across a lifetime. Free-choice learning is all about what you choose to do in your learning time. We learn every day--at home, at school, at work, and out in the world, from books, in museums, watching television, hearing a symphony, building a model rocket. Our motivations and expectations change over our lifetime but learning never stops. This book will give you a new understanding of the learning process and guide you in maximizing your lifelong learning journey.

Book Synopsis

Lessons Without Limit is not just another book about school reform but a highly readable guide to transforming the entire experience of learning across a lifetime. Free-choice learning is all about what you choose to do in your learning time. We learn every day--at home, at school, at work, and out in the world, from books, in museums, watching television, hearing a symphony, building a model rocket. Our motivations and expectations change over our lifetime but learning never stops. This book will give you a new understanding of the learning process and guide you in maximizing your lifelong learning journey.

Visit the authors' web page

Review Quotes

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

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

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"

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

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"

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"

There is now a deep understanding of the learning process and how to best facilitate it, however, the practices in many educational settings lag behind this knowledge, and the recognition and valuing of other learning settings and experiences is minimal. This book will help to alter this situation and to raise the profile of the free-choice learning component in all our lives.--Janette Griffin, University of Technology, Sydney "Visitor Studies Today"

This book will be useful for managers charged with the responsibility of setting long-term goals for museums, galleries, zoos, gardens and other educational institutions and would arm them with a number of powerful reasons in arguing for increased resourcing for free-choice educational institutions. It will also be valuable to educators who wish to step back and review the big educational picture as they map out future plans. It is a great source of anecdotes for those who wish to illuminate academic educational points with real life examples.--Simon Langsford, South Australian Museum, Adelaide "Museum National"

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

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"

While this is an interesting reading, the best part of the book is saved for last, when the authors suggest how to reform American education to make their version of a 21st-century learning society a reality, in part by integrating free-choice learning options into the lives of all citizens through a lifetime learning budget and a network of learning coaches. Their goals may sound idealistic, but they offer practical, down-to-earth advice. Recommended for academic and most public libraries.-- "Library Journal"

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.