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This balls-rolling-down-tracks example nicely touches on a fundamental 
question that still vexes science centers--namely, what is the purpose of our 
exhibits. One prevalent answer is that we are helping visitors to LEARN 
science--which, even by us, is mostly understood to mean learning the concepts/principles 
of science. Another answer, however, can come from stepping back and looking 
more broadly at science as (by my favorite definition) a method for describing, 
understanding, and extending our experiences with the world. Our purpose then 
is to help visitors get involved in just this--DOING science. From this 
perspective, the first thing we can do is broaden the vistor's experience by, for 
example, presenting interesting phenomena that can be explored. Then we can 
also encourage them to pursue their own inquiry to reach some level of 
understanding. This understanding will vary with the individual, and it will probably 
not be the same as the expert's understanding based on the established 
principles of science. But that is OK.   From this perspective, the concepts of science 
may be useful for some visitors to understand the phenomena; but learning 
them is not the goal, they are a means to the end of understanding. Often, with 
"what's going on" labels, science centers try to both teach the concepts and 
use them to explain the exhibit, which can end up succeeding in neither. 

Getting back to the balls in the tracks, I would suggest a good exhibit might 
be to have two tracks side by side; one a fixed, straight track, and the 
other a flexible track that could be bent into all kinds of shapes. Visitors could 
race balls down the two tracks and through their own exploration find which 
shape got the ball to the finish line first. This could involve quite extensive 
trials. Some visitors might go away with just the experience, perhaps 
wondering how come the straight track wasn't the fastest. Others, with more 
background (such as Jonah) would pursue their inquiry to finding an explanation based 
on science principles. But I (along with Dave) would feel the former was also a 
success. 

This exhibit could be fancied up with electronic instrumentation that 
measured the speed of the balls at given intervals along the track or at given 
intervals of time, which could lead to quite sophisticated investigation.    
Particularly nice would be to measure the balls' speeds as they crossed the finish 
line--which in all cases would be the same (or nearly so) speed. 

Ted Ansbacher
Science Services
29 Byron Ave
White Plains, NY 10606
914-328-5407 • [log in to unmask]
www.scienceservs.com

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