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Jona;

Two possible lessons:

	observe and the collect data or

	never get involved directly in your own experiment.

They did not predict the potential  results of their experiment.


Martin



>
>
>I think the lesson is, "Don't forget to include the article link."
>
>- Evan  :-)
>
>
>
>>>>  There's a lesson here somewhere, I'm just not sure what it is.
>
>
>
>>  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
>>
>>
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>>  the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>>
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>>  www.exhibitfiles.org.
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>>
>
>***********************************************************************
>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.
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-- 
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation
Consultant,
New York Hall of Science

***********************************************************************
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.

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