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I am not sure there is such a difference between interactive 
exhibits, books, lectures and podcasts. In all of them there is a 
selection behavior. You thumb through a book, try an interactive, 
listen to a podcast and start to listen to a lecture. If your 
attention (unless you have to have the information, for what ever 
reason) is not grabbed you put the book back on the shelf, visitors 
leave interactive exhibits, figure out a way of leaving an 
unsatisfying lecture (sit in an aisle seat, just in case) and shut 
down the podcast. No real difference between them except the 
motivation of "the user".

Is it not possible to envision incorporating podcasts into 
exhibitions for those who want more information than we normally 
provide? This weekend I visited Darwin (the exhibition at the 
American Museum of Natural History) an saw lots, lots of visitors 
reading lots and lots of text. Far, far more than I would incorporate 
into an exhibition at the Hall of Science. Different folks, different 
motivations, different exhibition techniques.

My idea in raising the question was to explore how, not necessarily 
why (a given for most?), to include science podcasts (audio or video) 
in our offerings? Can they supplant or supplement audio tours (but 
how many of us offer audio tours?)? Are they a supplement to the 
burgeoning cell phone audio tours that some of our colleagues are 
exploring?
(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/jack_fischer/13923032.htm, 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/jack_fischer/13923032.htm 
and Wayne Labar's post).

Martin


>
>
>Mostly I agree with Matt, but I do have one issue with what he said.
>
>Matt said:
>
>>
>>  1. I agree that not everything we do need be interactive for the 
>>  reasons Eric mentions. Many science centers know this. Many science 
>>  centers and museums sponsor lectures, TV shows and books. Not 
>>  everyone wants inquiry based learning all the time. Does anyone?
>
>I disagree with the implied equivalence of inquiry and interactive in
>this statement.  A non-interactive event such as a lecture (or podcast)
>can, in the right circumstances, lead to inquiry learning (by which I
>mean learning that is motivated by the need to answer a question and
>that is based on the collection and analysis of data - see the essential
>features of inquiry discussed in the National Science Education
>Standards, etc.)  The problem is that a lecture can only lead to inquiry
>learning if I bring to it the question it was designed to answer, if I
>am at the level of pre-existing understanding for which the lecture was
>designed, and if it presents data for my analysis (as opposed to
>preformed conclusions presented as factoids).  The unlikelihood of all
>the learners in a lecture all happening to be at the same place in their
>learning and working on the same question is what makes lecture
>generally a bad technique to use in group settings, such as classrooms.
>In this vision of lectures, they are actually ideal for the single user
>podcast through earbuds.  The person who downloads a content podcast
>has, by the act of downloading, already thought at some level about what
>they know about a subject and what they want to know (what their
>questions are), both essential prerequisites to real learning.  I think
>Matt is exactly right to equate podcasts with books - they fill the same
>learning needs.  A book is thoroughly didactic and reading a book to a
>large class is hardly an effective technique, but no one would question
>the educational value of the book itself.  It's all in how it is used. 
>
>The bottom line, when judging educational tools, is their efficacy in
>prompting learners to challenge their pre-existing understandings and
>construct new ones.  That depends not just on the tool, but also on the
>setting, including the learner herself.
>
>David L. Smith, Ph.D.
>Director of Professional Development
>Da Vinci Discovery Center, Allentown, PA
>http://www.davinci-center.org
>"Who will pick up where Leonardo left off?"
>
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-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Vice President, Science
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

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