Learning Sciences in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits

Maria Hays

National Research Council. (2009). Diversity and equity (Chapter 7). In Bell, P., Lewenstein, B., Shouse, A.W. & Feder, M.A. (Eds.), Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits (pp. 209-247). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

In Chapter Seven of Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, authors Phillip Bell, Bruce Lewenstein, Andrew W. Shouse, and Michael A. Feder, discuss the importance of creating informal science learning environments that engage and include learners from both dominant and non-dominant groups.  Some of the main points discussed include:

1.  Culture “includes the symbols, stories, rituals, tools, shared values, and norms of participation that people use to act, consider, communicate, assess, and understand both their daily lives and their image of the future” (p. 210).

2. Race and ethnicity are only two ways of identifying a person’s culture.  In this chapter, culture is also looked at through the lens of women, American Indians, disabled persons, and those growing up in both urban and rural America.

3.  Many in the scientific community assume science is acultural.  This is not true for two reasons.  First, science is its own culture; the language, ways of engaging, and ways of knowing are all unique to the culture of science.  Second, most science education is tailored to the cultural norms of the dominant sociocultural group (white, middle-class America). 

4.  Culture is not static.  While certain elements of culture may be static, culture is fundamentally a dynamic, social process. 

5.  Access does not equal equity.  In order to attain real equity in science education for nondominant groups, designers of science learning environments need to identify the cultural values and norms of their targeted audience and integrate those values and norms into their exhibits.

6.  All learning—including science learning—is a cultured activity and learning occurs best when students can connect what they are learning to their cultural funds of knowledge.

This chapter also includes research on how learners from four different nondominant groups (women, American Indians, the disabled, and learners from urban or rural settings) engage or disengage, in science.  These studies show that, for powerful science learning to take place, learners must:

1.  identify as science learners,

2.  believe in their own competence and ability to do complex science,

3.  be able to make connections between their personal lives and the science in which they’re participating,

4.  if differently-abled, be provided with physical supports to allow equitable access to science.

Finally, in order to increase science participation and learning in nondominant groups, designers of informal science learning environments should attend to the cultural and physical needs of their target audiences, should include members of the target audience in their design discussions, and should encourage on-going mentoring and support from stakeholders within the nondominant groups (Bell et al, 2009).

Question for Reflection:

How difficult do you think it would be to create a large-scale informal science learning environment that appealed to the cultural diversity for a city like Seattle?  How do you decide whose culture gets included?  How do you decide whose culture gets excluded?  How do you mitigate for that?