Reflective Blog 3

As the final reflective blog, and given that this is supposed to represent the cumulative experience I have acquired, I wanted to wait until close to the end of our unit to post. I have put in roughly twenty hours at the Discovery Center and enjoyed every minute of it. The atmosphere is welcoming and the exhibits are fun and interesting even with repetition. Of all the observations I have made while there, parental involvement, creative freedom, interactive learning, I never quite noticed the one that tied them all together: community.

It wasn’t until I started researching sources for my unit two revision that I discovered what my observations had in common. It is the community which determines what is important and places emphasis on what it values. When I say community I mean everything, from television to conversations to what is celebrated and why. When the community comes together and builds something, we are saying that is worthy of our attention, that is important. The message children get is by what “that” is: is it a stadium or a research lab? A university or a golf course? By having a place which is dedicated to lifelong learning and interest in the sciences, we as a community are saying that it is something we value. Children see this and understand it, whether we think they can or not.

The observations I made of the interactions between children and their parents are a direct reflection of this understanding. A child asking how something works and why tells me that they think it is important to know, and that gives me hope for our future. Because it shows that intelligence and culture are still viewed by their parents as important, and children are seeing that. The community decides which skills and characteristics are important by deciding what is worthy of its attention. My desire is that we as a country will eventually realize that the only thing that really matters is the development of our youth and their education.

Ancient Sparta valued only the physical: strength, combat skill and courage. They were the pinnacle of military might and power in their time. Few stories and fewer historical figures are known from their culture, and but for one awesome movie, even fewer Americans would know Sparta even existed. Athens valued both the mind and body: culture, art and science. They were the creators of the modern democracy. Ask yourself: to what extent and in what area has each of these civilizations impacted the modern world? What did each community value and how was it displayed in their community? Which civilization contributed more to our way of life? Now ask yourself this: what do we value and how is our community showing that? The discovery Center is one shining example of our community showing that it values knowledge and intelligence. I hope that it continues to do so for a long time.