Ilanit Zada

Science and Technology in NYC

Professor Adams

11-17-13

What are the different ways that science is communicated to the public? How is science communicated to you? Well, there are several ways in which science is communicated to each individual; it may be through the media (TV and the internet) or in school settings (considered a more formal setting). However, in the article entitled “Framing Science” by Mattew C. Nisbet and Chris Mooney, I felt that there was a very valid point made. The authors stated that, “citizens use their value predispositions (such as political or religious beliefs) as perceptual screens, selecting new outlets and Web sites whose outlooks match their own.” I felt that this sentence held a lot of truth and brought me back to my experience in school before I entered college.

I went to a Jewish school my entire life (up until college). We took science classes, as would be expected in any other school. However, when we reached the chapter discussing the Big Bang Theory, there wasn’t a heavy emphasis placed on the chapter. We learned about the topic and then moved on. The reason behind that is because as Jews, we believe in G-d and we strongly believe that he is the one who created the universe. The idea that the world we live in came about through a collision of particles went against our religious beliefs and therefore was unfathomable for us. On the other hand, someone that believes in the Big Bang Theory may find what the teacher says about the topic to be rather interesting. They may go on to pursue the topic and learn more about it, whereas for most Jews, their understanding of the topic ends in the classroom. This scenario highlights the idea portrayed in the reading when stating that individuals seek ideas in science that have ideas matching their own. If the idea is similar to what they believe, they will continue to read and  learn about it, but if not, they probably will not dwell on the subject and move on to read about something that falls in line with what they believe in.

The inspiration for any process of learning always starts with curiosity. It’s especially important for informal science learning, as the entire point of it is that it’s something you choose to be continually immersed in. It was really cool to learn about the 5 C’s + P mentioned in the reading for this reason. The way interest is broken down makes a concrete amount of sense. Curiosity, Confidence, Challenge, Control, Communication – when they’re laid out like that, it’s fairly easy to see how they’re all intertwined.

You need to get people curious about the topic. Then you need to make all age groups feel like they’re capable of learning it. I know that while many scientific topics can seem very daunting, mindset is a huge part of making learning something you can deal with. Some of my friends studying organic chem view it as a huge, unbeatable challenge, and struggle accordingly. I firmly believe that if you can inspire confidence in students, they can learn material much more quickly. Challenge is a huge part of learning as well. Nothing should seem impossible. Additionally, challenge implies that theres a sense of engagement from the educator’s part as well. Not only should they take pains to involve the student, to make them learn on their own instead of spoon-feeding them, but they should see that the student isn’t just blackballed by an overwhelming amount of material either. This naturally leads into Control – the student/learner should feel as if they can influence their own direction of education and performance, that they’re an active participant. Communication helps students know that their educator really cares about their opinion, and validates the “active participant” aspect that makes informal science education so engaging.

Chapter 5:

We’ve often discussed the importance of interest in learning, but Chapter 5 pointed to the importance of interest tied to identity. Those who are novices, or explorers, and those who are experts, will have different learning experiences at museums and other informal learning environments. Their identities related to their level of expertise and their personal interest are important factors in their learning choices. Gabe Schwartzman was passionate about the environment and his interest and identity—as a someone who was interested in the environment and may have had some knowledge of it, but wasn’t an expert or a scientist—led him to start the biodiesel fuel project. He abandoned the project after realizing that biodiesel fuel wasn’t the most efficient fuel source for drivers in metropolitan areas, but not before actually creating his own biodiesel fuel and using it for a while. Although he abandoned the project, Gabe—as a fellow tree-hugging greenie, I feel like Gabe and I would be on a first name basis— was glad he took on the project and learned a lot.

Chapter 8: 

Surrounded by Science cited research done by Guy McKhann and Marilyn Albert that presents evidence that humans constantly generate new neurons and form new neural connections, which shows “that learning is truly lifelong” (152). I am a firm believer in lifelong learning, but I know that there are people who become discouraged by their age when it comes to learning. Older people I’ve met claim that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and they say it so often to other people and to themselves that they come to believe it. While it may be harder to learn as one gets older, it certainly isn’t impossible. There are older folk who feel they can’t learn anymore or are discouraged by their slower learning ability and they let those feelings keep them from learning; they let the fear of striking out keep them from even attempting to play the game, which makes me sad. Museums that create exhibits that cater to the needs of the older generation should also publicize the findings of McKhann and Albert’s research to encourage the more seasoned to continue learning and adding new spices and flavors to their life and store of knowledge.

Chapter 5 discussed heavily on the aspect of interest in informal learning. Deborah L. Perry explained her model of curiosity, confidence, challenge, control, play, and communication. I believe that learning is done effectively only when there is a large interest for the topic. As a child, I was fascinated by nature documentaries. This interest pushed me to learn even more. I would go to the library ever day just to learn more about the animals that I saw on my screen. Just that interest and curiosity alone pushed me to learn more about nature. I believe that this interest has molded me into having a stronger scientific mind. Although, I did read somewhere before that learning and retaining information is not related to interest. I cannot find the source, but there was a study that explained that even if you are interested in a topic, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will retain the information better than if you were not interested. This probably means that the interest acts as a catalyst that would push someone to learn even more even if it didn’t mean that they would retain information better.

Chapter 8 was about the learning stages in someones life. I related this to my siblings. I’ve seen them grow up as babies to children and it is amazing how much they have learned relative to the time spent learning. They are able to grasp concepts and remember them at an incredibly fast rate and it is true that largest amount of learning happens before 18 years of age. As a pre-med student, I feel as if I will spend my whole life learning. This is because if I am responsible for saving someones life then my mind has to be as sharp as possible. An interesting topic that I learned during my time researching in a neuropathology lab is that people who do stop learning have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The reason because of this possibly because if we stop conditioning our minds with knowledge, we end up using our neuronal pathways much less and he connections start to blur out. Consequently, professions that require a high maintenance of learning and conditioning tend to have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Chapters 5 and 8 of Surrounded By Science concentrated on the factors of identity and age, respectively.  In Chapter 5, Deborah L. Perry’s six-component model is discussed.  The components are curiosity, confidence, challenge, control, play, and communication (pp. 83).  These components fit well with the different factors that played into the informal science learning across age groups:

(1) Curiosity – “The visitor is surprised and intrigued” (pp. 83) – While all age groups may – and should – be curious about what they’re learning, children seem to be especially curious.  “[Knowledge] is derived from the child’s own experimentation with objects, rather than through planned learning by adults” (pp. 140).  Children are still developing their knowledge base and understanding of the world, which correlates nicely with the curiosity component.

(2) Confidence – “The visitor has a sense of confidence” (pp. 83) – Again, this is a component that should be present for all ages, but may be more important for children and adolescents.  Children are still learning about the world, and if their confidence is built during this learning process, it may encourage them to pursue science or scientific thinking.  Adolescents “tend to express a desire to pursue activities independently of adults” (pp. 142).  Adolescents are at the stage of life in which they want to learn or experience new things on their own or with their peers.  To reinforce their sense of competence and their decisions to participate in science related activities, it is important they have confidence.

(3) Challenge – “The visitor perceives their is something to work toward” (pp. 83) – Challenge is important for all age groups; if the learning is not challenging, then the learners are probably taking in less information.  It also makes the activities seem less relevant or “fun”.  Because different age groups find different things challenging, it is important to find a range or a balance of challenging levels, or else one group may feel over- or underwhelmed

(4) Control  – “The visitor has a sense of self-determination and control” (pp. 83) – Having control is important to all learners.  It relates to the first strand of learning (interest), because giving control of what one learns allows her to pick what interests her, and what she is more likely to continue exploring.  Also, if one is in control, they are more likely to perceive themselves as having some independence and confidence (component 2), which is important to forming their science identities.

(5) Play – “The visitor experience sensory enjoyment and playfulness” (pp. 83) – While important to all groups to experiment and involve as many of their five senses as possible, play may be one of the components targeted more towards children – and possibly adolescents, too – with a lack of attention to the play aspect for adults.

(6) Communication – “The visitor engages in a meaningful social interaction” (pp. 83) – This is important for all age groups, though it may differ across them.  For parents and children, it may be the parents serving as mentors or relayers of information that children have a difficult time grasping.  For groups of adults, it may be discussing, analyzing, and applying the information, especially in the context of their lives.  For example, older adults may talk about medical breakthrough in Alzheimer’s because they have a higher risk for it.

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.

After reading Chapter 5 of Surrounded by Science, I couldn’t agree more with the fact that interest is a key factor in informal science learning. Being interested in a certain thing or topic seemed like a simple notion to me-you’re either interested or you’re not. But, after reading this chapter, I saw just how complicated interest can be when it comes to informal science learning. There’s many different aspects to it, aspects that I knew existed but couldn’t really identify. For example, Deborah L. Perry’s model to improve the quality of museum exhibits consists of curiosity, confidence, challenge, control, play, and communication. When I look at or participate in a museum exhibit, I experience almost all of these things, which I thought was really cool. One sentence that stood out to me from this chapter was “These environments are also designed to be safe and to encourage exploration, supporting interactions with people and materials that arise from curiosity and are free of the performance demands that people often encounter in school.” This got me thinking that learning in school is unfortunately hindered because these performance demands are used to give students grades. I want to point out that this is not always the case, but from my personal experience, classes that haven’t interested me have failed in doing so because all I’m doing is attempting to pass an examination with the information I learn. However, the results of removing performance demands in the educational system could potentially be disastrous since the majority of students wouldn’t attempt to learn anything that they didn’t want to. I also feel like the whole liberal arts education debate comes into play here as well, in that some people believe we need to be exposed to a variety of disciplines and fields of study, but that’s a whole other story. The ideal learning environment is one in which you are genuinely interested in the topic at hand, and want to learn about it and excel in it because you just want to know something, anything, about it. You want to discover. You want to find. Humans are curious creatures. We want to be able to know things about everything in our environment, which is an excellent driving forece for learning. Although being human connects us all, having our own personal interests distinguishes us from each other. I can be having the time of my life at an exhibit on extreme thermophiles while you can be at a cow dissection having your mind blown, but what drew us both to each exhibit was the same thing: interest.

After reading Chapter 8, which focused on how different age groups experience science learning, I started thinking about how extraordinary it is to consider just how much a child actually learns during the first few years of his or her life. Even something as simple as dropping an object and recognizing the effects of gravity helps a child learn about their surrounding environment. If we were able to mimic the way children learn at early ages during adulthood, we would all be geniuses. I really wish we had a way of reflecting on our own childhood learning experiences as children, but unfortunately we remember only a few precious memories or weren’t aware of our thoughts yet. I’ve thought about the first memory I have of my life, and I think I might have been perhaps four or five years old. Our childhoods are a huge portion of our lives, and as a hopeful Children and Youth Studies major, I am so in awe by the fact that we are able to learn so much and yet remember so little of those learning experiences. It just goes to show that the human mind is incredible.

Chapter 5 goes into how informal science learning is most effective when the person doing the learning is captivated and interested in the said topic. Therefore, sparking interest early on is one of the most important parts of science learning and will propagate an endless need to discover more about whatever topic the student may be learning. One of the more obvious methods of interesting a certain learner to me would be a hands-on workshop or activities that are so interesting, that one does not feel bored from all the information but rather intrigued. I also don’t think it is possible for one to learn a certain topic to the full extent if there is no interest. I think that if someone is being forced to learn, they will not fully understand and will soon forget the information once it is not necessary. This remind of college and how certain students will either love a class and go out of there way to learn more about the topic, or they will sit through class waiting for the period to be over- not really learning anything of value because of their lack of interest.
I think that it is nonsensical to be in a position where you are being forced to learn something because you have to, not because you want to. I think that students and informal science learners should be studying topics that interest them because they will gather more useful information when curiosity and interest is at a peak. If there is a certain topic that may not seem interesting, encouraging students to go outside of a formal setting and find out if there are any exhibits, shows, or events that correlate to that certain topic that could possibly spark some interest would be a great idea.