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Informative and provocative post as always, Charlie.  I'll bite.

Yes, strands of learning other than cognitive can be measured, about as
easily as the cognitive ones, and yes, there is evidence of strong positive
correlations among the strands, including interest and cognitive measures.

When I started in this field in 1973, I was introduced early to the
distinction between the cognitive and affective domains.  The very first
exhibition evaluation I did (dragged into evaluation kicking and screaming
by Laurie Eason at the Lawrence Hall of Science), we measured not only what
astronomy knowledge visitors took away from an astronomy exhibition, but
what the exhibition did to their interest in astronomy.  Dennis Schatz
invented an assessment we called the "Schatz Raffle Inventory" to measure
how seeing the exhibition affected teenagers' interest in astronomy.
Students were selected at random to see one of two exhibits (one on
astronomy), and then offered raffle tickets to thank them for their
participation.  All they had to do was to check which of three prizes they
wanted to win, one of which was an astronomy poster.  Students who had been
directed to the astronomy exhibition selected the astronomy poster twice as
often as those who were directed to a different exhibition (“Summative
Evaluation of a Participatory Science Exhibit,” by Alan Friedman, Cary I.
Sneider and Laurie P. Eason, Science Education, No. 36 (1979) 25‑36).

This was all new to me in the 1970's, but there have long been a host of
validated instruments to measure affective domain characteristics for kids
and adults.  Take a look at the ATIS web site from Harvard, which offers
critical reviews of over a dozen good instruments
(http://www.pearweb.org/atis).  Note the Children's Science Curiosity Scale.
There are large scale studies of knowledge, interest and attitudes towards
engineering and technology described in "Tech Tally" from the National
Academy of Engineering (2006,
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11691&page=R1). The Gordon and
Betty Moore Foundation has initiated a major effort to create a measure of
"activated science learners."  4H, an enormous organization reaching
millions of children, does careful studies of its impact nationally
including "YEAK" surveys (Youth Engagement, Attitudes and Knowledge).
Background questions on the National Assessment of Educational Progress
("the Nation's Report Card") include measures of interest, while the main
scores reflect cognitive measures, so the two can be and have been studied
for correlations, with lots of evidence of positive correlations between
interest and achievement (www.nagb.org ).  And there is that wonderful paper
by Robert Tai and colleagues showing that adolescents’ expectations that
they would have a career in science were an excellent predictor (better than
math scores!) of graduating college with a science or engineering degree
(Science, May 26, 2006).  “Young adolescents who expected to have a career
in science were more likely to graduate from college with a science degree,
emphasizing the importance of early encouragement.”  The study found that
8th grade students with expectations for a science related career were 3.4
times more likely to earn college physical science and engineering degrees
than students without similar expectations.

I keep an occasional running tally of studies like this in an essay
"Evidence for the Impact of Informal Science Learning" on my web site
(http://www.friedmanconsults.com/essays ) and see it is about time for
another update.  Bottom line, I think there is a much broader and deeper
line of work, including lots of peer reviewed, rigorous studies,
establishing the importance of and connections between  cognitive and
affective domain outcomes.  Hopefully the professional evaluators and
researchers on this listserv will step in here and give us further guides to
this assertion (Visitor Studies Association members and others, please speak
up!). 

A different and deeper question you raise is "Ultimately, isn't it the
cognitive ones that count?"  For some people, particularly those who live
and breathe formal education, or who regard creating more STEM workers as
the primary and perhaps the only goal of STEM education, I suppose the
answer is "yes."  But for those of us who believe in the value of a liberal
arts education (with science as one of those liberal arts), then the answer
is that both cognitive and affective domain outcomes count.  Interest
without knowledge is dangerous.  Knowledge without interest is short-lived.
But having both knowledge and interest can lead to a lifetime of pleasure,
enlightenment, and effective participation in a civilization's culture.
That's what I've come to believe strongly, over a lifetime.

I certainly agree with you that informal learning has been going on eons
before the term was coined, and before organizations for ISE were created.
That's fine.  Organizations are one way for informal learning to happen.
And yes, we can have many modes of learning, some with very different
approaches, many different ones working effectively.  Sadly, this also
includes approaches which try to narrow thinking and insist on dogma and
rejection of rationality when it comes in conflict with dogma.

Mark's insight into museums as infrastructure is a valuable way of looking
at us, and not the only valuable way.  I too rarely visit libraries in the
flesh these days, but look how brilliantly they have adapted!  The libraries
in Queens, NY, have the highest circulation in the free world, and their
branches are packed with kids every afternoon, and thousands of recent
immigrants and other adults learn in these libraries and take courses every
day.  We have a lot to learn from the stories of the continuing value of
libraries, even in the age of the smart phone and Internet.

Cheers,
Alan

Alan J. Friedman, Ph.D.
Consultant for Museum Development and Science Communication
29 West 10th Street
New York, New York 10011 USA
T  +1 917 882-6671
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a member of The Museum Group
www.museumgroup.com <http://www.museumgroup.com/>
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