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

This is a true story, reported in the Hartford Courant, about what just
might be the perfection of science.

It tells of two young scientists who personified a great many (granted,
not all) of the greatest virtues of science learning. Free-form,
inquiry-driven science flowered in them. In the science center field, we
DREAM of those who act in this manner.

And yet...

Let's examine the scientific virtues that this pair exemplified:

1) Their exploration was self-motivated. They did not decide to learn a
little bit more about the natural world because their teacher made them,
because they had to know it for a test, because it was on the state
science standards, because a well meaning parent or science center
educator led them in this direction. They were driven by their own
curiosity.

2) They began with a healthy skepticism of scientific content as
presented in popular entertainment. An entirely wise approach. [Real
forensics investigators, for example, do not act like those on the CSI
shows. Amongst many inaccuracies, they have more than one facial
expression. Unlike David Caruso.]

3) Confronted with a possible physical phenomenom, they cast a definite
hypothesis about how it would function.

4) As in the heart of all good science, they tested their hypothesis
with experiment. To make things even better, they designed the
experiment themselves (unlike the "follow these directions" m.o.
commonly used in science education.)

5) Once the results were in, the experiment disproved their initial
hypothesis... and they readily accepted this fact. "I decided to try it
because I thought all of the TV shows were lies," one said later, "but
it turns out I was wrong." This lack of dogmatism, intellectual honesty,
and openess to revise one's ideas in the face of evidence is far, far
too rare in this world.

What could possibly be bad about such a wonderfully scientific process?

Well, here are some details on their experiment: Two fourth graders in
Indiana decided to see if putting their tongues on a frozen flagpole
really would get them stuck --- just like in the movie A Christmas
Story. It turns out that in this case, Hollywood got it right, and
yes... your tongue really will stick to very cold metal.

There's a lesson here somewhere, I'm just not sure what it is.

Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum
 
"I hate quotations."
     -Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

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]