Week 8

The Zimmerman piece was extremely interesting because it showed gave good guidelines for how ‘learning’ and ‘fun’ can be seamlessly integrated. It was interesting to note how science can informally be integrated in other activities a child engages in.

I found the concept of place-based education to be very relevant. Something that I have heard many students in school complain about is how they feel their education isn’t relevant to ‘real’ life and that after school they’re going to forget everything that they have learnt anyway.

Using the principles of place-based education, people will not only grasp material more easily since it will be easier for them integrate it with prior knowledge but they will believe that what they’re learning is important which will hopefully act as a motivator.

On a different note, it was sad to see how unconscious, instilled stereotypes impact the informal scientific learning of girls. While the findings of the paper were extremely unfortunate, they were also reassuring in that they offered a plausible explanation for the gender-gap in scientific learning. I wonder if this phenomenon is noticed when families engage in activities in domains typically considered to be feminine. Do parents explain more to girls then?