Reflections on "Adult Science Learning in the Internet Era"

Jon D. Miller the author of the article "Adult Science Learning in the Internet Era" .

In Adult Science in the Internet Era the author mentions a few sources where current adults might learn scientific concepts, Nova, the Discovery Channel, and the internet, referred to as just-in-time media. It draws to mind a few ideas. One, I have recently read an article written for the New York Times on mathematician Terence Tao, a bit of a math prodigy.  In the article Tao’s father mused that Tao might have gotten a jump start on learning math concepts from watching Sesame Street. Secondly we learned about a different math prodigy in psychology, Jacob Barnett. He may not have been watching as much Sesame Street considering he was learning algebra in kindergarten, but he too focused singularly on his studies and found a way to relate everything that he learned to the math concepts he was trying to expand. Is this the same as what these older students are doing? Is the human mind trying to singularly focus its attention while at the same time diverging into a million different areas of interest?

Miller begins his quest to understand “the impact of these learning resources on the public’s understanding of science and technology.” (pg 5)  The article talked about how current resources for gaining scientific knowledge outside of the world of academia have changed over the last 25 years. Newspaper sales have declined, TV viewing rose and is now dropping, and the museum has been experiencing a consistent decline. All of these declining uses coincide with the rise in internet use.

The article claims that the rise in internet use is likely because adults “do not rely on a single source for science information”. ( pg 5) Interestingly the amount that adults seem to be learning is increasing despite the decrease in the resources they use to approach this. This trend was not however a result education, as it did not show itself in students.  Miller points out all the things that may impact the resources adults learn from. The sex, age, number of children, age of children, and educational achievement thus far all are taken into account when considering the resource. Miller used a path model to show these relationships (figure 5).  Between the resources (contained by circles) are the connecting lines which have the value with which that resource impacted the collection/attainment of the scientific information.  This is an interesting way to present information.

The article takes turn around page 11 beginning to become critical of middle and high schools for not better educating students causing this “lag” in scientific exposure. Miller claims that “the informal science learning resources should complement the formal learning process.” (pg 11) For example when one hears a story in the news about a virus outbreak one might research that strain of viruses, their infection rate, outbreak history, etc.

Miller approaches the question of what current museums can do to survive in an information now world.  He suggests that it is “essential to re-conceptualize the learning process and to re-define the concept of learning spaces.” (pg 12) This might be a similar re-conceptualization that was talked about when imagining classrooms and the integration of technology. Perhaps the classrooms of the future are truly going to go back to the origin of learning the libraries and museums. Is learning going to be more individual research oriented and aided by the availability of the original resources?  Miller says that current learning systems should embrace the modes of information transportation available to them. The third thing that could be done is for the informal science educators (museums, TV, internet) to provide more accurate and detailed information. Also museums should consider alternative schedules for being open. Miller presents the problem of a student, who has limited time to access this information, resorting to the immediate access of information on the internet as opposed to from a museum. At this point Miller suggests that we recognize “that we are in the early stages of the integration of separate media or learning resources.” (pg 12) For the better survival of museums Miller points out what sites like Chicago have done, imposing a small tax on hotels that goes to “cultural institutions”.