ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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The whole notion of this kind of a test sends shivers up and down my spine!
I am willing to bet that the person suggesting this approach does not have a
clue about the breadth of the richness or value that a museum visit can
produce.  The person setting this up should be given a test on the National
Science Standards, especially inquiry and assessment standards for students
and teachers. 

The best assessments that I have used are more about assessing myself rather
that the students.  By far the most useful feedback came from just getting
kids to talk about their experiences and see what comes out.  I especially
liked getting letters form kids in response to an idea or problem and seeing
how they were thinking about the issue.   If you want to see a great
assessment of students thinking by using interviews, watch A Private
Universe or Minds of Our Own.  These are valuable tools that evaluate the
educational process and learning by exploring student thinking.

"Assessment" of experiences in museums is essential and very different from
a traditional "test."  I wonder if the test suggested above even considers
giving big points to students for:

Interesting observations
Making personal connections
Great questions generated from experiences
Being inspired with a sense of wonder
Trying things at home or talking to others about an experience
Making suggestions to museum staff
Learning how to explore
Taking charge of an exhibit experience and doing a mini investigation
Have ideas that were enhanced by the experience
Wanting to come back 
Knowing something that they can take from the museum
Being able to describe something that they did on their visit
Etc.

One problem we face every day with helping students become life-long
learners is personal views held by teachers about learning.   The view is
very limited in the minds of many, if not most, people that control the
education experience.  This is not a fault.  Rather it is often due to not
having many opportunities to experience what great education can be.   

I wonder how I would have been graded when, as a 3rd grader in Cleveland
Ohio, I visited the Natural History museum and attended a planetarium show.
During the show I did not have a clue what the presenter was talking about
and cannot remember even evening seeing the stars.  What I did and do
remember was being totally fascinated by how dark the room was. I spent my
time trying to see my hand or the person next to me etc.  I even got down on
the floor and tried seeing things under the seats, for which I was
reprimanded.  However that was one of the neatest experiences I ever had at
a museum and is often recalled in my mind, even over 50 years later, when
doing any explorations with light.   I wonder how we evaluate that kind of
experience?

For my part, a museum or science center experience should not try to model a
school of information transfer, but rather should create opportunities for
learning that goes way beyond school.  We are about the only places in the
country that still have the ability to continue to break-the-mold and create
new visions that reflect what teaching and learning should be about.  It is
not new for museums to be in this position.  In the 1970s a great number of
schools and national leaders turned their backs on Science Education. Thus
Science Centers became "like the bunny" and provided a beacon of light that
kept on shining.

Giving tests as described above, unless they are truly innovative assessment
experiences that move education to new levels, are probably just a good
example of how to move backwards.  

Bill Schmitt     


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter A Anderson
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 1:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Flunking a Museum

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*

Hello museum flunking afficionados,

Many years ago, Chandler Screven told me of a "science center" - perhaps
more akin to a  visitor center - that he worked on, for the Tennessee Valley
Authority.  They had a quiz program to see how much visitors had learned in
the galleries.  If the visitor's score was high enough, they could go to the
gift shop and receive a free gift.  If they didn't have a high enough score
...............

I suggested to Chandler that they had succeded in making a flunkable museum,
but he disagreed.

I wonder if anyone else has a similar rewardable - or flunkable - test.

Peter Anderson

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