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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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hi everyone,
Thank you for all of the great responses and resources. Keep 'em coming if
you want.
Re the suggestion to have kids demo science instead of presenting research:
I love it, but I can't do that in the upcoming meeting.
Re the provocative post below: This is a larger discussion/ potential
debate, and a good one, but yes, it depends on the definition of "meaningful
science." I will define my ideas about it during my meeting with the help of
the resources that are so generously being suggested in the listserv.
Thanks again!
Ben
On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 8:26 AM, Jeff Courtman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Ok, Ben, I'll stick my neck out and ask: "What the heck does 'doing
> meaningful science' look like to an eight year old?" There was a memorable
> keynote given 8-10 years ago at an ASTC conference (in Phoenix?) that
> posited 18 month olds and scientists have much more in common than one might
> suspect. If I remember correctly (and I'll leave it to others to correct
> me), the central theme was constructing the universe, so to speak.....
>
> I also had the good fortune to go to an early learning conference many
> years ago at Stanford with Sally Duensing. A researcher presented raw video
> that had been shot in early elementary school of a teacher taking kids
> through 'experiments.' Afterwards, the room nearly erupted, the most common
> refrain being, "That's not science!" To which the researcher replied, "I
> know, I know....don't shoot the messenger, I'm just trying to figure out
> what it is....."
>
> I know this latter example is more a critique of that particular teacher's
> understanding, or, in this case, mis-understanding, of children doing
> science....
>
> I have a 7 year old - while I can tell you he engages in experimenting all
> the time, constructing his on universe as it were, some of the most
> fundamental constructs of 'doing science' are simply beyond his
> developmental level.
>
> I'm not challenging your thesis, I'm just suggesting it is very dependent
> on your framework for what science is.....
>
>
>
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