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I have found one reference for the <<flunking>> quote: Frank Oppenheimer,"The 
Exploratorium and other Ways of Teaching Physics." (Invited paper presented 
at a joint meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the 
American Physical Society, January 31, 1975. Published in Physics Today, September 
1975.) 
<<More than one enlightened attempt at educational improvement during the 
past half century has been plunged into darkness because it could not meet the 
demands for certification of the students. But no one ever flunks a museum or a 
television program or a library or a park, while they do flunk a course--they 
do flunk out of school. . . . I would like to suggest that the current 
mechanisms for certification are not only stifling to educational progress but that 
they are also extraordinarily costly and wasteful.>>
And another relevant Oppenheimer quote, from Everyone Is You … Or Me, 
(Technology Review, June 1976): <<The most important aspect of the ambience of the 
Exploratorium may stem from the fact that visitors are never subjected too 
judgmental discomfiture. They do not feel compelled to decide whether they are 
supposed to learn something from an exhibit or merely enjoy themselves.>>
Finally, I have summarized this for myself as: The question to ask after a 
museum visit is not "What did you learn?" but "What did you see and do?" (From: 
What did you see and do?, Informal Learning Review, Jan/Feb 2000)

Ted Ansbacher
Science Services
29 Byron Ave, White Plains, NY 10606
Tel: 914-328-5407 • Fax: 914-328-5407
[log in to unmask] • www.scienceservs.com



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