Jennifer Mikhli

Professor Adams

Science and Technology in NYC

09/11/13

Reflection on Surrounded by Science

            The reading selection of Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments, by Marilyn Fenichel and Heidi A. Schweingruber, truly touched on the cornerstones of informal science learning that contribute to its success amongst adults and adolescents. It is the informal science opportunities’ emphasis on the learning process that transpires within a human mind that allows these experiences to resonate deeply with its participants. Through a formulation of a systematic approach to how individuals learn and approach scientific information, the informal science experiences are tailored to sparking interest and maintaining an engagement with the scientific information at hand. For instance, the first strand of science learning involves the sparking of interest within its participants. It is at this point within the framework of the informal science activities, that a huge disparity mounts between its academic science counterpart. Formal science opportunities pay no heed to whether or not the scientific facts at hand are garnering interest or engagement within its forced learners. Rather, more attention is paid to the imbuement of facts and theories within the indifferent or, unfortunately, averse pupils. This inattention to interest and failure to accommodate the curriculum to meet the curiosity of its listeners, is what continues to debilitate the middle and high school science programs within the United States. Thus, in order to give a scientific boost to this age group, academic environments should seek to emulate the informal science activities, in their accommodations and tailoring to meet the interest of its participants. Activities such as Project FeederWatch go so far as conducting regular participant surveys, which they use to “develop a profile of the participants,” (23) ensuring that participants are able to partake fully and engage themselves in the bird-feeding and watching. This is because igniting this interest and tailoring these activities allows individuals to feel like they are becoming a part of the scientific culture and community. Essentially, accommodations must be made in the classroom to foster an engaged and motivated science learning within its students. Students should not feel as if science is a foreboding body of facts and figures. They, however, should feel attached to the subject and view it as the evolving force that it truly is.  Teachers must provide an anchor for science within the fortress of the student mind. This anchor, I truly believe, will allow students to pull themselves along the tedious postulates and theorems, holding on to the hope of themselves becoming a part of the growing body of science one day.