These four articles all focus on communicating science, more importantly, the responsibility of those doing it to publicize their findings and to improve the way that the information is conveyed. Scientists often overlook the responsibility of explaining their work to other people. In McNutt’s article, she states that “even the most brilliant scientific discovery, if not communicated widely and accurately is of little value.” This is true because if no one spreads word of a new discovery or breakthrough, then no one will ever hear about it. And if this information is not communicated accurately, then people will be misinformed and might be misled into thinking one thing or another. Therefore, it is important that the scientific community relay the information that they discover.

One way that information is communicated is through peer reviewed articles. These provide us with some level of assurance about the accuracy of the information conveyed because several people assess the veracity and truth of the paper.  Despite this established process, the science community should find ways to improve this process. Some ways to revise the process have been proposed. These alternatives need to be considered, but these news ways also be assessed.

If scientific knowledge was communicated more widely, there stands the possibility that this communication could combat the ignorance of people, guide sound policymaking and garner more support for science. This can be an opportunity for scientists to find ways to inspire young minds and encourage underrepresented groups to enter the science realm. It is very important that scientists not only work in labs, but also in the public sphere. They need to put the information in the right correct context and help people understand what is unknown, known and under debate. With this information, people can formulate their own opinions and make their own decisions about these issues using the correct information.

Overall, it is necessary that scientist determine how better to communicate the information they discover and also how to accurately convey that information. It is just as important to convey information correctly, accurately and with meaning. This is to avoid facts being misapplied or twisted for or against a particular side.

Chapter 5 in Surrounded by Science was a very interesting chapter about interest, motivation and identity, especially its role in informal science settings. I agree that informal environments are characterized often by people’s interest and motivation to participate in activities that encourage learning about the natural world. People can decide what they learn, when they learn and how they learn. People usually choose to learn things that interest them or that they have an emotional attachment to. Research has even shown that emotions associated with interest are important factors in learning. Emotions can even help determine what is and how long something is remembered. This is most likely because people pay more attention to things that interest them and that interest can determine what is learned.

It was interesting to learn about the two different models in this chapter, Perry’s six-component motivation model, and Renninger’s and Hidi’s interest development model, which were created with the desire to build sustained interest in a particular topic or area that will want people to learn more. Perry’s model descries factors to consider when designing and creating effective museum exhibits. It states consists of curiosity, confidence, control, play and communication. Curiosity allows the visitor to be surprised and intrigued; confidence allows the visitor to feel a sense of competence as they feel they that they can succeed in a particular activity; control allows the visitor to have a sense of self-determination and control; play allows the visitor to have fun and enjoy what they are doing; and communication allows the visitor to engage in meaningful interactions with other people.  An example of this model is The Color Connection: Making Colored Lights, which utilized these factors.  It used colored lights to show how they overlap to make white light. It sparked curiosity in the visitors because they had to search for the answers; it allowed them to feel confident because they felt that they could succeed at this activity. The switches allowed them to better control and feel like their actions were more goal oriented; the lights allowed them to have fun as they made hand shadows and can change the lights. Also, it promoted social interaction as the visitors taught concepts and ideas to each other; the people can share their experiences, discuss what they observe and coordinate their actions. It was cool to see the factors in this model in practice in a real exhibit.

It was fascinating to learn about Renninger and Hidi’s model as well. This model describes how the environment may provide a spark before any personal motivation develops.   It consists of 4 phases: situational interest, maintained situational interest, emerging individual interest, and well-developed individual interest. Situational interest is the interest that comes from an environment that may have personal relevance or capture attention; maintained situational interest is when a participant has had repeated positive experiences that are sustained by the meaningfulness of the tasks; emerging individual interest is an interest that extends beyond the informal learning experience; and well-developed individual interest is demonstrated by the person’s choice to continue a particular activity or reading about a particular topic. These factors are important when designing informal learning experiences for science as they can help deepen and sustain interest.

The chapter also speaks about identity and its importance in learning.  Identity includes a person’s sense that he or she can do science and be successful at it. It can also mean a sense of belonging to a community, setting or activity related to science. It is stated that there seems to be a relationship between science-related identity and the kinds of activities people participate in. The way we view ourselves has an impact on what we do and the choices we make. It was interesting to learn about the personal identities that visitors bring: explorers, facilitators, professionals/hobbyists, experience seekers or rechargers. Explorers are curiosity driven and interested in learning more because of a particular experience; facilitators help others to enjoy from an experience and learn from it; professionals tend to feel a connection with the field they are in and may look for specialized programs within that field; experience seekers enjoy new places which may be considered important; and rechargers are looking for contemplative experiences.

I enjoyed learning about how identity and interest can motivate certain behaviors. Also, it is important to note that people learn better when they engage with others, experiment and interact with objects or models. These are important things to consider when designing informal setting experiences so that people can get the most benefits from them.

Chapter 8 stressed the importance of knowing the audience that a certain activity or experience is targeting. It also talks about how the ways science learning differs with age.  People’s needs and interests change over time and the way people learn the things that interest them change as well. It is important to note that while this may be true, most people develop knowledge from the days they are born and expand on it as they age. It was fascinating to learn about cohort effects, which are “the attitudes, traits or behaviors that typify a group of people born during a specific period, and they tend to stay with the cohort consistently across the life course.” Cohort effects are connected to the common life experiences that people of particular time periods have. This is demonstrated in the cohort differences that were noticed in people’s experiences with and attitudes toward technology. We live in a world that is so used to using computers, the internet and social networks. It is much easier for younger people to use technology to aid their learning. However, not the same can be said of other people, like the baby boomers and older people,  who would probably find it more difficult to use these tools; they may feel uncomfortable using technology, which may hinder their learning because they are not used to this tool.

People learn about their surroundings and develop skills for science learning from the time they are infants up to adulthood.  People’s interests may change and this affects the kinds of activities that they will participate in. The things that people are interested in are somewhat influenced by the time in which they were born and by the impact of world events on their lives. As a result of this, educators and creators of programs must keep in mind who they are serving. The needs of one group will be different than the needs and interests of another group; these differences need to be kept in mind when designing meaningful experience that will hopefully lead to richer learning experiences.

Chapter 7 in Surrounded by Science talks about closing the gaps between the values, beliefs and practices of particular cultures and communities and the values and practices that are embodies in Western science. It was interesting to learn about the challenges that informal environments face in trying to be accessible to all people. There are social, economic, ethnic, cultural and historical factors that influence the types of access and opportunities that informal environments  provide to learners.

The chapter focuses on the challenge it is to reach and incorporate members of traditionally underrepresented groups. The chapter states that these are the challenges of engaging nondominant groups in sciences that are demonstrated in studies: inadequate science instruction exists in most elementary schools, especially those serving children in low income and rural areas; girls often do not identify strongly with science or science careers; students from nondominant groups perform lower on standardized measures of science achievements than their peers; although the number of individuals with disabilities pursuing postsecondary education has increased, few pursue academic careers in science or engineering; and learning science can be especially challenging for all learners because of the specialized language involved. I never really thought about all these challenges or how one learning environment may not be equitable to all people that it caters to. It is not enough to expose individuals form a nondominant group to the same environment because that environment may be designed with the dominant culture in mind. This shows that greater consideration is needed when designing such learning environments, with cultural and contextual issues taken into account.

I liked how in the chapter discussed that in order to achieve equity a connection between home and community cultures of diverse groups to science is needed. There needs to be a connection between the life of the learner and science so that they can get the most out of the experience and so that the learning experience can provide a meaningful experience. The chapter discusses the affect of the lack of diverse staff and lack of culturally relevant content in environments has on underrepresented groups, which is that they do not feel welcome or comfortable in those environments.

In an effort to make these environments better for nondominant groups, dialogue between designers of the learning environments and the communities and people that the place targets is necessary and important as discussed in the chapter.  I enjoyed reading about the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose, California. It was interesting to learn about how they tried to make an exhibit that reflected the growing Vietnamese population. It took into account the opinions and ideas of the Vietnamese community as it designed the exhibit and continued to make improvements to the exhibit as more feedback came in. It even discovered a difference between first generation Vietnamese members and subsequent generations. They learned that first generation members valued their cultural tradition and liked sharing their memories of life and traditions in Vietnam while the younger generations seem less tied to Vietnamese customs and have limited reading and writing abilities. This was an example of the value of drawing participants’ cultural practices to design informal learning settings by using everyday language, linguistic practices and cultural experiences. The chapter then talks about “universal design,” the practice of accommodating all visitors regardless of their ability levels, which tends to make designed learning spaces accessible all.

It was also fascinating to learn about the hardships that institutions face in trying to implement practices that will make it more accessible to people. There are costs for translations, proofing and production. There are decisions needed to made about what languages and cultures to include when designing an exhibit. However, one solution was offered in the reading for electronic labels to be used to display multiple languages and offer even more detailed information when called for. This may be an expensive solution, however, it would address and solve some challenges that occur when creating an exhibit.

Overall, it was interesting to learn that informal learning settings should be designed in a way that takes into account the interests and concerns of the community that it is catering to. There must be considerations for variation in beliefs, values and norms of social interaction like different family structures and gender roles.  This can be done by listening to and incorporating ideas from educators and community members which the environment will serve. These types of settings should also incorporate the “cultural variability of social structures”, which should be reflected in the educational design.