“The 95 Percent Solution” by Falk and Dierking seeks to open our minds to different ways of learning science, focusing on free-choice science learning that includes resources such as educational television and radio, science museums, zoos, aquariums and national parks. The authors discuss and explain the growing importance of free-choice learning as a way for the public to understand science in the long-term, countering the commonly held assumption hat traditional school is the best way to achieve this. The article includes examples, data, and studies that demonstrate that free choice learning is beneficial in increasing the public’s understanding of science. Ultimately, the article does not dispute schooling entirely, but rather seeks to encourage us to think about the 95 percent of time that is not devoted to the classroom and how that time may be more important than the little time spent in school in trying to increase the scientific understanding of the public.
The most important thing that I learned from this article is that free-choice learning is successful because of the nature of it. It is not like school, which many of us may think is boring and tedious. It actually may be very fun, exciting and engaging. This is due in part to the fact that we have the opportunity to choose what we want to learn and how we want to go about learning it, whether it be going to a museum, park, or watching a television program. It is often easier to learn what we choose. We put in more time and effort into things that intrigue us or challenge us. It is the fact that we want to learn about a particular thing that makes us want to increase our knowledge and understanding of that topic. I know that this is true for me when I began studying the heart. I was shadowing a surgeon in the Cardio Thoracic Intensive Care Unit at NY Methodist and I found the topics they talked about and the medical terminology that they used to be very interesting. I didn’t need to research extensively about the different heart diseases and illness and I didn’t need to ask my dad for one of his books about the heart; I would eventually learn all this stuff in medical school. However, I wanted to know more about the heart and how it works and the things that affect it; therefore I put extra time and effort into trying to learn everything about it.
Free-choice science learning definitely has its benefits. It works in large part due to the fact that we have the freedom to choose what we learn and the way we want to learn it. However, I still believe that a classroom setting does have its benefits in imparting knowledge to people and increasing their understanding of science. At times, it may not be as exciting as going to a museum or watching an interesting television program, but there may be a topic, process or method introduced in class that we might find interesting and want to research on our own. Ultimately, a balance between free-choice learning and schooling is needed, one in which both resources are utilized in a way that maximizes the benefits and leads to an increased understanding of science among the public.
