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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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You know... why are we bothering to try to fit a definition of science into
a one sentence thing (and at the level of a seven year old!) anyway? As
interesting as some of our stabs at it have been, you can nitpick just about
any of them (For example: "Science is asking questions about the world
around us and using what we taste, hear, see, smell and feel to try to find
out the answers to those questions." So if we can't detect it with our
senses it's not science? This'll spell big trouble for evolution!)

It just feels like we're aiming for a pat summary when a 7 year old doesn't
want one. A mammal could be accurately described as "a warm blooded,
air-breathing vertebrate with fur and bearing live young to which it feeds
milk." (And even that definition has exceptions. But honestly, when talking
with a second grader about mammals, aren't you going to give examples? 

So why bother with a terse, generalized definition of science? I bet even
that 7 year old could tell you that science is about stuff like animals and
rocks and outer space and other things; that's obviously not all it is, but
I don't think you're doing the kid any favors by leaving those out.

It feels like we're trying to reach for something that a bland mission
statement or a marketing consultant would come up with. And what 7 year old
wants to hear those?

30 years past 7,
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
Science Center of Connecticut


"On blind faith they place reliance,
what we need more of is science"
           -MC Hawking

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