Reflective Blog 2

I recently hit 18 hours volunteer service at the Discovery Center. So far it has been a fun experience interacting with several patrons and assisting some new volunteers with orientation around the building. I have not had much opportunity to research my topic; unfortunately the number of people and children present when I volunteer is minimal. With my limited research sources, I have started using myself as an experiment. I have taken note of my desire to try the experiments and I find myself returning to specific ones multiple times. After analyzing the reason I was drawn to these experiments I found that I liked them because I controlled what was happening, I was interested and in manipulating what was going on, I was learning about the process. I took note of which exhibits where favorites among children, they all seem to have a higher level of interactivity (i.e. the kids controlled the experiment) than other stations: the bubble wall, the pulley chair, several stations in the geosciences room (yellow).

It is a stretch but I believe that this can be reflected to a more efficient form of education: interest based learning. By creating an interactive environment where children have more control over the subject matter, or are manipulating it directly, the learning experience would be drastically altered, and in my opinion, improved. This method, of course, can only be implemented at higher levels of education. Somewhere around fifth or sixth grade when the cognitive abilities are developing but the creativity and improvisation haven’t been beaten out of them.

Given my limited opportunities for observation, I believe that I have found an alternative and still effective method for relating my volunteer hours to my research topic.