Malka Niknamfard
Professor Adams
9/30/13
Surrounded by Science Chapter 3
Chapter 3 of Surrounded by Science deals extensively with the idea of interactive experiences and how essential they are in terms of sparking children’s and even adults’ interests in scientific exploration. Interactive experiences effectively teach students material that they are able to understand and retain because they are efficient means of triggering interests and engagement. For example, a particular exhibit that was designed to teach visitors about the form and function of the human skeleton consisted of a stationary bicycle that a visitor could ride and when the visitor pedaled the bike, the exhibit was arranged so that an image of a moving skeleton appeared inside the pedaling person’s reflection. The movements of the legs and skeleton attracted the visitor’s attention to the role and structure of the lower part of the human skeleton, thereby engaging a person’s interest in the subject at hand.
People can be exposed to interactive experiences in a variety of ways- a strategy for supportive learning commonly referred to as ‘multiple modes’. Interactive experiences manifest themselves through simple things such as turning knobs, spinning wheels, or pushing buttons that people can manipulate in order to discover an answer, or they can be experienced via hands-on involvements such as engaging with objects or animals or being a part of a scientific investigation.
Lastly, interactive experiences are crucial when it comes to teaching people about science because when people are able to determine answers to questions through solitary experimentation, they feel as though they understand the material at hand better, and feel as though they are directly responsible for making a significant contribution to the scientific community a well as to gaining scientific knowledge that they would otherwise solely be exposed to via a textbook. Thus, places such as museums, botanical gardens, nature centers, and other informal science venues play crucial roles in hands-on learning and directly impact the way students learn about the scientific community.
