Malka Niknamfard
Sparking interest is perhaps the single most important aspect of informal science learning’s ability to engage and teach learners about science in an outside-of-the-classroom setting. Thus, it is no wonder why sparking interest is the first of the six strands of learning. The first strand states that engagement is a primary motivator that serves to ignite interest in a scientific subject in order for a learner to pursue further sources to expand his or her knowledge and learn more about the subject at hand. In this sense, interest inevitably captures ones attention and prompts the pursuit of further knowledge.
Although interest through informal science is commonly thought to manifest itself by means of museums or zoos, its long-term effects have been proven to have lasting effects on not only the pursuit of future knowledge, but through a “desire to build sustained interest that will bring people back to learn more” (87). A model that researchers have developed in order to maintain long-term scientific interest through informal science opportunities consists of a four-phase model that describes how interests emerge as individuals express more and more interest through repeated experiences. The first phase, situational interest, triggers interest through the situation and environmental features that capture attention because they appeal to an individual’s interests and hobbies. The second phase, called maintained situational interest, is when a person is constantly exposed to positive experiences that involve scientific learning. The third phase, emerging individual interest, is when a person begins expressing interest beyond the informal learning experience that he or she was first introduced to and which may not necessarily attribute to the person’s interest in the topic per se. Lastly, in the well-developed individual interest phase, the person’s choice to pursue the original interest and continue his/her involvement in other activities solidifies a true love of the original scientific topic that was sparked by an initial interest.
I truly believe that interest is the most important concept in terms of maintaining a long-term awareness of scientific knowledge. It is known all too well that students who learn and memorize scientific facts strictly for the purpose of passing tests and getting good grades often end up forgetting all that they learned and never end up pursuing the topic. Informal science opportunities engage learners through hands on learning experiences that appeal to their interests and provide students with a pathway with which to pursue their interests further and learn more about the topic at hand. I experienced this first hand when I went to the Prospect Park Zoo in which I asked a young child what his favorite part of the exhibits were, to which he replied, “I was very interested in the ‘Animals in the Dark’ exhibit because I never knew that some animals only come out at night. I want to go home and learn which animals only like to come out at night and why”. This taught me that when something appeals to someone interests (a child in particular), he or she is motivated to pursue the interest and learn more about it.
