John H. Falk

John Howard Falk (December 6, 1948) is Director of the Institute for Learning Innovation and Sea Grant Professor of Free-Choice Learning at Oregon State University. He's a leading expert on "free-choice learning," learning guided by a person's needs and interests. At the Smithsonian Institution's Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies at Edgewater, Maryland, Falk spent over 13 years "studying lawns and how man relates to them." His current research focuses on the community impacts of museums, libraries, zoos, and aquariums; understanding the reasons people utilize free-choice learning settings during their spare time; and helping cultural institutions rethink their educational positioning in the contemporary era.