ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

David-

    Yes and isn't the point that museums are here not to answer questions,
but to raise them.  To launch people on life-long searches for
understanding.

    You can't expect to gain much understanding in a 2-hour visit, but you
can gain a ton of curiosity that might lead to understanding.

                            Ed

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniels, Alissa" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 7:48 AM
Subject: Re: Bernoulli exhibits


> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
>
****************************************************************************
*
>
> Thank you, indeed, David. I always feel slightly guilty at my inability to
> explain our Bernoulli exhibit. Of course, being a Children's Museum, our
> visitors don't always care "why", they just know that it's cool. And I
guess
> in a lot of ways, that's a good start. If kids gets excited and think
> something is cool, and want to persue it further, or have just decided
that
> science is fun after all....my job here is done. And maybe someday one of
> these kids will be able to explain Bernoulli to me in a way that I can
> grasp.
>
> I find Eric's question a fun one as well. I always had a tough time with
> waves beyond the visible spectrum; the fact that some insects can see
> ultraviolet is kind of bizarre. Electromagnets hurt my head--wrap a wire
> around a screwdriver, and it becomes magnetic? huh? (and for those of you
> who were at the Faraday workbench weekend, that's my guilty secret). On
the
> other hand, DNA replication makes perfect sense to me.
>
> Fun stuff.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Alissa Daniels, Science Program Manager
> Boston Children's Museum
> 617-426-6500 x342
> www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org
> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
> discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but "That's
nny..."   --Isaac
> Asimov
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Siegel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 6:55 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Bernoulli exhibits
>
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
****************************************************************************
> *
>
> Good post, David.  I guess it is a truism in this field that we are not
> teaching facts but rather trying to engage visitors in "thinking like
> scientists."   Your realization about how much science you take on
> faith, so to speak, seems to me to be an example of how new science
> gets done.  If our visitors were introduced to a similar process of
> analyzing what they understand and what they only *think* they
> understand--on whatever level-- it would be a great service to them.  I
> assume this is what people mean by "critical thinking skills" though I
> have never been entirely sure.
>
> On a related note, I was thinking recently how much science of the last
> few centuries was based upon taking things that were obvious to our
> senses and experience and showing how they are wrong.  Starting with
> the flat earth...of course the earth looks flat, through the geocentric
> universe...of course the sun and the stars move around the earth, any
> fool can see that, up through relativity, quantum mechanics, cosmology.
>   Not all breakthroughs are like that.  Genetics describes a mechanism
> for what we intuited, that the leaf doesn't fall far from the tree.  I
> wonder whether scientific breakthroughs fall into these two
> categories...the counterintuitive and the intuitive.
>
> As an additional response, in a certain frame of mind, it seems to me
> that I can adequately explain *nothing.* There is always too much
> texture, detail, and complexity to explain any actual phenomenon.
> Richard Feynman talks about this in the "six easy pieces" extract of
> his lectures, as does Jim Gleick in Chaos.  Maybe it is a bit different
> from what you are talking about, but to explain exactly how this
> specific lever moves this specific object is an endless task.
>
> Thanks for bringing this up.
>
> Eric Siegel
> Director, Planning &
>      Program Development
> New York Hall of Science
> 47-01 111th Street
> Queens, NY 11368
> [log in to unmask]
> www.nyscience.org
> On Sep 2, 2004, at 2:42 AM, David Taylor wrote:
>
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> > Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> > institutions.
> > ***********************************************************************
> > ******
> >
> > This discussion brings up one of the things I have given some though
> > to, but don't really know yet what I think or how I feel about it...
> >
> > I'm a pretty smart guy... I've seen Bernoulli exhibits for more than 30
> > years and seen and heard the term in physics classes, pre-flight
> > instruction classes, in learning how a sail works on a sailboat and
> > have
> > even written copy for two Bernoulli exhibits... but in reality even
> > though
> > I can see the phenomena and explain the phenomena, I don't really think
> > I understand the way the Bernoulli effect works... in many ways it is
> > still
> > 'magic'. It's the same with the Doppler effect and many other really
> > great
> > science demonstrations and exhibits... they are great 'gee whiz' stuff,
> > but what is our purpose in teaching them and what do folks really learn
> > other than the sorta semi-scientific explanations and to say, wow I
> > sorta
> > have some explanation for why a 200 ton airplane flies and why a train
> > sounds funny as it passes...  how is this different than saying it's
> > because
> > some things are fire, air, earth and water based, as some other
> > cultures
> > have said.  To the average person (and probably me too) it is only the
> > belief in the paradigm of science as a better way of explaining things
> > that
> > these explanations have any more credibility than magic.
> >
> > There are some physical principles I can convince myself I understand
> > like the way a lever works... it is very  concrete and I can see and
> > touch
> > it... but how sound passes through solids, liquids, gasses but not
> > vacuums
> > but light does... or understanding light as a particle or a wave, is
> > still
> > something I have to take as faith (even though I know the words and can
> > convince other folks to believe that it is true.)
> >
> > I'm not sure what my question or statements are about other than to say
> > that I'm still confused about how much we really can accomplish in
> > getting
> > kids and non-scientist's (including myself) to truly understand the
> > world we
> > live in rather than just being able to use scientific terms and
> > explanations
> > to describe what occurs...
> >
> > I would love some insight and comments from the rest of you...
> >
> > Dave Taylor...
>
> ***********************************************************************
> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at
http://www.astc.org.
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
> [log in to unmask]

***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]