Chapter 3 in Surrounded by Science emphasizes the importance of creating experiences that will ultimately enhance the understanding of people and allow them to be more flexible in their learning. I think that it was interesting to learn about the importance and necessity of creating and designing good informal education experiences. Even good programs need constant improvement so that the people that participate in them reap the maximum benefits. One way to improve programs was based on how learners responded to the activity they engaged in. They used the feedback of people to add or change something about a particular activity so that the people are not just having fun, but are also learning something in the process.
The chapter also focuses on the facets of learning, which are the development of expertise, the role of intuitive ideas and prior knowledge in gaining a deeper understanding, and the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking as a way to build one’s understanding. It was fascinating to learn that experts are not just people who think well or are extremely intelligent, but people who know how to organize their knowledge and understand relationships between facts and also are able to distinguish central ideas. All this enables them to be flexible in their learning and apply their knowledge in different contexts. This means that people like you and me can also be experts in a particular field if we know cultivate the skills needed to organize our knowledge and to apply it to several different settings. I agree with the text that our childhood does develop some level of expertise in an area because when we are little we learn to figure out things for ourselves. We are not placed immediately into a classroom; rather we interact with people and come up with our own intuitive ideas about the things we see and feel without any formal education. This prior knowledge helps up to delve deeper into topics as we seek to understand certain things about the world around us. We become more aware of our ideas and express them. Our reflection and awareness of our ideas allows us to understand how we think about something and perhaps even challenge ideas that we have and expand on them.
To expand on the previous thought, I think one of the most interesting things I learned from this chapter was metacognition. This is the ability to reflect and monitor one’s own thinking. It is specific to a particular area, but it can supported and taught. I think this ability, to be aware of how we think, can ultimately lead to greater understanding. Once we know how we think we will be better able to find ways to help aid us in our understanding of science. Also, reflecting on our thinking will help us discover what we know so that we are able to delve deeper in to an area of a subject that we may not have known before or were wrong about.
In hand with these facets are ways that learning can be encouraged and supported. The text tells of various ways to engage people in a way that they can cultivate their minds and ultimately gain a deeper understanding of what they are doing. These strategies are juxtaposition, multiple modes and interactivity. Juxtaposition is beneficial when informal environments are created that juxtapose peoples’ understanding of the natural world with the formal ideas they have been taught that explain the world. This juxtaposition will hopefully lead learners to examine their own understanding of a particular subject and work towards improving it. Multiple modes is beneficial in learning because it allows there to be different ways for learners to utilize concepts and practices in activities and supports a flexible transfer of knowledge from one area to another. Interactivity in learning encourages learners to discover things for themselves by actively participating in events. People should be interested and engaged in what they are learning in order to increase their knowledge and their ability to reason out information in science.
Throughout the chapter, examples are provided in informal education experiences in which these strategies are present. One example is an exhibition called Cell Lab, which is located at the Science Museum of Minnesota. This activity allows visitors to use real laboratory equipment to conduct experiments in order to learn about genetics, cell biology, microbiology and enzymes. They work at stations, testing their hypotheses and interacting with other participants. This opportunity allows its participants to engage in an authentic science lab experience. Participants even wear lab coats, goggles and gloves to make the experience more real. Experiences like these allow people to be actively engaged in the activity and have fun doing it while also allowing them to share ideas and learn together about science.
