In order for us to understand how we can promote informal science learning, Chapter 2 of Surrounded by Science examines what it means to learn and to do science. Many people in society believe that to do or learn about science is to be a scientist isolated in a lab and doing experiments. Some people believe that what scientists do is something they cannot do and that science is something for people with “higher knowledge.” Some people feel that whatever scientists are learning or trying to understand contains too much recondite information that they could not possibly comprehend. In reality, scientists are just trying to understand and learn more deeply about things that surround all people. Doing this requires cooperation and collaboration between many different scientists. As the text explains, science is very much a social and collaborative experience between scientists. There is a network of people that work together to share information and ideas. Scientists communicate with each other, formally and informally, through emails, participating in conferences, and presenting ideas in journals and books. As a result of science being collaborative, scientists must be receptive and open to the ideas of others in order to strengthen what they are working for.
Science can also be considered cultural, as stated in the chapter, because it reflects the values of the people who engage and participate in science. We are all different people and we go about learning things in different ways. We all have things that interest us and we decide what we want to spend our time on and how we want to approach a certain issue. As a result of our different values and interests and also the choices we make, science is an area that becomes one that is so broad and diverse at the same time.
Although we may not be scientists working in a lab with high-tech equipment, we, too, can be scientists, and a part of this chapter focuses on how nonscientists can still be engaged in the scientific world. An example in the chapter is Project FeederWatch, in which birdwatchers were able to interact with scientists and tools of science in order to fine-tune their observational skills and collect data about what kinds of birds they saw, sometimes even making some new findings and discoveries. I had a similar experience doing the Bioblitz in Central Park. I had the opportunity to work with experts and learn about the diverse environment of Central Park. I had the chance to learn about some of the birds, like Mallards and Domestic Poultry Ducks, that exist in the park as well as learn about some other animals that were there, including raccoons, rats and bats, an animal I did not know inhabited the park. Some of us even logged in the data we collected onto iNaturalist so that other people can see our observations and so that we can see the observations of others. Both of these examples demonstrate an informal learning experience that provided people with an enriching way to learn science. These type of experiences allow people, including me, to become more familiar with the culture of science and its processes as well as become engaged in it.
Further discussed in the chapter are the strands of informal science learning. In a nutshell, these strands state that we should: experience excitement and interest in learning about the natural world, understand facts relating to science, engage in scientific reasoning by questioning and observing things in the world, reflect on science and how we come to understand the natural world, and learn to use the tools and language of science. Hopefully, by doing these things, we will begin to think of ourselves as science learners. These strands demonstrate what we do when we learn science and also provide a way to design informal learning experiences so that they will benefit the people that participate in them and allow them to learn about science in a positive way. Perhaps with these ideas in mind we have a better understanding of what science is, what it can be, how we can learn science and what kinds of environments will provide the best opportunity to learn about science. Informal experiences may be a great way to get people to learn about science and participate in science, at least it was for me when I did the Bioblitz. Hopefully by understanding “what it means to do and learn science” (19), we will be better able to design and promote informal experiences such as Project FeederWatch and Bioblitz, that will increase our own understanding of science and encourage us to think of ourselves as science learners.
