Chapter 3 was particularly interesting to me because it discussed interactivity and the learning process involved with interactive engagement. It makes sense that interactive activities, especially those that engage senses beyond our ability to see and hear by encouraging learners and participants to touch and becoming physically involved in their learning process, make for effective and interesting learning experiences. Being able to turn knobs and push levers to make something happen is far more interesting and makes information about a certain phenomena easier to understand than merely reading an explanation of it.
The Cell Lab activity not only encouraged student participants to use their sense of touch to engage their learning of scientific phenomena and allowed them to conduct experiments, but also gave students lab coats and goggles. This encouraged students to imagine themselves as capable science learners and even as scientists. In class we discussed the general image that came to mind when people and children in particular thought of scientist: a solitary male with wild “mad scientist hair,” wearing a lab coat, surrounded by beakers with cool colored chemicals. Giving children lab coats and goggles makes them feel included in the often-considered exclusive  field of science, and participating with their peers shows them that science is a group effort and that learning and engaging with scientific ideas is more meaningful and easier to learn when scientific experiences are shared with others.