Malka Niknamfard
Professor Adams
Chapter 7 of Surrounded by Science discusses the concept of the accessibility of informal science opportunities to various different cultures and languages. Although it is commonly know that English is the primary language spoken in the United States, it is often easy to overlook the idea that America is known as the great “Melting Pot’ due to its diversity of different races, religions, ethnicities, and cultures. The variety of different cultures is particularly seen in New York, as it is virtually impossible to walk down the streets of Manhattan without noticing the eclectic diversity that New York City harbors.
It is rather upsetting to think that hundreds of thousands of ‘non-dominant’ Americans are unable to enjoy and benefit from the various informal science opportunities that America provides- whether it be museums, national parks, or exhibits. As the daughter of two people who emigrated from Iran as a result of the Iranian Revolution, I witness first hand how both culture and language barriers have prevented my parents from not only assimilating more into American society, but have also hindered their ability to participate and engage in common informal activities.
Another group of ‘non-dominant’ Americans who exhibit interest in informal science projects but are unfortunately unable to experience them are those who lack the monetary means necessary to attend museums and other informal science opportunities. This reminded me of an article that I read that stated that high school students who had the means to afford SAT tutors were rewarded with coveted college seats merely because they were able to afford help in advancing their education, while students who were just as smart did not score as high because they were unable to afford students.
It is crucial to ensure that informal science opportunities are accessible to all people, regardless of there age, race, ethnicity, preferable language, and financial standing. To increase informal science accessibility in order to accommodate all types of people (including those who fall into ‘non-dominant’ groups) more informal science projects should be free of charge. In addition, museums and other visual scientific exhibits should convey their information using multilingual systems so that no language barriers would prevent people from enjoying and learning about science in a stress-free, interesting, and hands on learning environment.
