Keeping “Discovery” Standard in Informal Science Education

Earlier this year, an NPR series "Museums in the 21st Century" highlighted an interesting consequence of the increased focus on state standards in education. As is the case with many supplementary educational experiences, school-based visitation to museums has declined since implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). With the need to meet NCLB proficiency goals, many schools find that after devoting extra time to test preparation and administration, there are few hours left for museum trips.

In response, some museums are tailoring their exhibits and tours to address state educational standards. By teaching the “context of textbooks”, museum administrators hope that they will both improve the general educational experience and recover lost student visitors. For example, the Field Museum in Chicago, after losing over 1/3 of their visitors over a few years, now includes standards-based mathematical concepts in their archeological sampling and evolutionary timeline experiences.

Response to this movement has been mixed. Some fear that an intense focus on state standards is myopic, and is destroying museums’ true value: a sense of discovery, rather than yet another reinforcement of what people already studied in school. While application and relevancy of information is certainly important, fostering a sense of discovery and exploration necessarily involves an extension beyond basic, previously encountered standards.

However, many museum administrators see this as an opportunity. Attention to state standards helps to reinforce museums’ relevance to education, and allows for positive changes to the classic model of a “museum field trip” that might not have taken place without the crisis in visitation. Additionally, as low-performing schools drop non-standards based coursework, museums can be viewed as a “lifeline” to the arts, sciences, or history to students in those schools.

I am inclined to agree that this challenge creates an opportunity to improve the museum experience. In this age, new information is a quick internet search away. It is not novel information, but the chance for a personalized experience that museums have to offer. While the information may be the same as that presented in the classroom, museums have the opportunity to bring that information alive.

Engagement is necessary to create an atmosphere where learning can take place: as is often said, you can’t save their souls until you get them into the church. Take for example, the successes of the Creation Museum (detailed in a blog at Museum 2.0), which offers a fundamentalist Young Earth viewpoint of creation. The story, “evidence”, and passion are all interwoven in the exhibits, and visitation has continually grown since its inception. Through the use of compelling storylines and interactivity, science museums can also create a sense of purpose for visitors (hopefully more in line with evidence-based knowledge!).

A focus by museums on state standards to keep teachers, administrators, parents on board with museum visitation, along with continued innovation of large-scale interactive approaches, may do much to improve general science literacy in this country.