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Martin-

In response to your point # 2, and if my memory of some of my tasks  
serves me correctly, the lesson could be appended:

"This is what graduate students are for"

Jonah - thanks for the great humor on a Monday....

Best-

Red Riderless Sam


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On Jan 28, 2008, at 2:28 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>   
>>> ******************************************************************** 
>>> ***
>>>  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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>>
>> ********************************************************************* 
>> **
>> 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.
>
> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L- 
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