ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I've always thought this would be an important exhibit to have at all
science institutions - addressing the many misconceptions that the public
has towards science. My only fear is that the exhibits wouldn't be as
hard-hitting as they should but will instead cave to political correctness.
I've seen this done time and again - especially in the USA. I think exhibit
developers, or the staff who are involved in the decisions, may influence
what is displayed based on their own beliefs whether through unconscious
bias or through questionable arguments like many that have come up on this
list. I also think that the staff have to unfortunately take into account
future funding and patronage that might be lost depending on how far the
exhibits delve. This is even more relevant if the exhibit deals with the
misconceptions of particular scientific discoveries and theories - evolution
and natural selection perhaps being the most controversial. Even
misconceptions in astronomy that may reference the beliefs of astrology are
still considered controversial. Controversial being slightly synonymous to
"offensive to public sensibilities or belief". I think Europe has been
braver in this regard. I'd be interested in hearing from the representatives
of these institutions with regard to what we've been discussing here.
We went after a grant once, with the NSF, for interactive exhibits that
focused on exploring science vs. pseudoscience. I wrote the grant and
created three examples for what we hoped would be an endless number of
exhibits. I chose UFOs, astrology, and cryptozoological creatures as the 3
examples of pseudoscience - intentionally staying away from creationism
because of the "controversy." The grant made it through 2 reviews but in the
final review it was decided that parents would object - astrology being the
most controversial of the three. Frustrating to say the least.
I feel there are so many opportunities to help the public understand what
science is by comparing it to examples of pseudoscience. Not necessarily
paranormal and supernatural claims, only those claims that science can
address and that our current understanding and knowledge base, provided by
science, contradict. Along with developing this understanding I've found
that children of all ages *love* to investigate this type of subject matter.
They don't seem to care what the findings show - they are as excited about
falsifying a claim as they are about discovering valid ones.
I often go through periods of wanting to give up on this work - thinking the
efforts of building more interest and appreciation (and understanding) in
science among the public is somewhat futile. Disillusionment seems to be
quite common in our day and age. One odd source of inspiration I've found to
banish my pessimism (and cynicism) is the NHL (national hockey league.)
Recently they changed the rules of the game - quite significantly. These
changes were put into effect, embraced, learned and understood by all
involved and it worked. It only took a year to battle it out between
committees, hotheads, independent thinkers, and so on and agreement was
reached. I thought possibilities like this were impossible in our 21st
century chaos. But there's still hope for change and that raises my spirits
somewhat.
I guess the question that is often voiced here - one we're all desperate to
answer - is HOW do we do this. How do we build an excitement for scientific
learning, how do we improve general understanding, how to we inspire people
in demanding that science play a much more important role within our
societies, our nations, and our global community?
Amanda
***
Amanda Chesworth
Educational Director, CSICOP
http://www.csicop.org
Inquiring Minds Program
http://www.inquiringminds.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Colin Purrington" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: Evolution, Creation, can we please move on?
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
>
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*
>
> I wonder how many museums and science centers have signage or
> exhibits that address the misconceptions that the public has about
> the nature of science and non-science. I've only aware of the Museum
> of Science and Industry in Chicago having it. Photos below are not
> mine, but show the exhibit nicely:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/margotmiller/347364184/in/photostream/
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/margotmiller/347364462/in/photostream/
>
> I can't make out all the text in the above images, but I think the
> tact is to say that creationism is a "different" way of knowing about
> reality. Not sure whether this is accurate or intellectually honest,
> but it's certainly a _popular_ way to discuss contradictions between
> scientifically-derived information and folk stories.
>
> -- Colin Purrington
> - - - - -
> Department of Biology, Swarthmore College
> 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081
> tel. (610) 328-8621; fax (610) 328-8663
>
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