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Researchers and practitioners in learning sciences, educational technology and child-computer interaction often argue that fun is an essential element of learning. Therefore, researchers in the above fields aim to explore how learning activities could be made more enjoyable in order to facilitate engagement in the learning process and to improve the learning outcomes. Despite such wide interest, there has been little systematic effort to define and measure fun. The herein introduced research aims to (a) define the term “fun” and (b) to create a tool for the reliable measurement of it. In the first study testing the initial item pool 75 students (μage = 11.78); in the think-aloud study testing the comprehensibility of the items six 11-year-old children and in the final validation study, 128 students (μage = 12.15) participated. We applied a deductive scale development approach. For the model testing, CFA was used and second-order latent variable models were fitted. In this paper, we conceptualize the term of fun and introduce the final 18-item version of the FunQ that consists of six dimensions (Autonomy, Challenge, Delight, Immersion, Loss of Social Barriers and Stress) and bears with the appropriate validity and reliability measures (ωoverall = 0.875 and ωpartial = 0.864; RMSEA = 0.052 and SRMR = 0.072). We contribute with (a) a review of the literature regarding the concept of fun, (b) a conception of fun as a multidimensional theoretically motivated concept, (c) a multidimensional instrument for assessing experienced fun—the FunQ—and (d) a psychometric evaluation of the proposed instrument. FunQ is put forward as a reliable and much-needed addition to the current palette of instruments.

There is a growing number of informal and non-formal learning activities worldwide related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subject areas-particularly, those related to coding and making. To understand the general aim and content of such activities, we conducted a survey addressing highly experienced instructional designers and instructors of informal and non-formal science learning activities in nine European countries (N=128). The goal of this paper is to investigate the relation between (1) the targeted age-group and (2) the gender of the participants in these activities, and (3) the gender of the activity leader experts and (I) the content and (II) the main goal of the activity. The results show that the gender and age of the participants and the gender of the activity leader experts are associated with regards to the underlined content and the goal of the activity. We introduce the revealed patterns that describe typical goals and content in association with the participant's gender and age along with patterns between the activity leader experts' gender and the content and the main goal of the activity. We discuss the study findings in detail, their implications and their value for the informal and non-formal learning communities.

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