Abstract
This chapter reviews a science outreach training course designed for the Language Sciences Research Lab, a working research facility embedded inside of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI). The course integrates training in informal science education theory, background in a specific science area (language science) and extensive hands-on work at COSI where students engage museum visitors in interactive language-focused activities. Key components of the course are described and a formal evaluation of the course outcomes is reported. The authors discuss how the course enhances an existing partnership between COSI and Ohio State University, as well as ways in which its core elements have been adapted to other fields.
TopThe Partnership
The training course is taught in conjunction with the Language Sciences Research Lab (https://u.osu.edu/thebln/language-pod/), an OSU working research lab embedded within COSI (Wagner et al., 2015). Affectionately known as the “Language Pod,” the lab is dedicated to the study of language and the dissemination of knowledge about language sciences. It is one of three research pods, called the Labs in Life, located in COSI’s Life exhibition on the human body and mind. These glass-enclosed research spaces allow museum visitors to observe actual scientific research as it is occurring in a research-in-real-time experience (see Figure 1). Many science centers invite scientists to carry out experiments at the museum so that visitors may have firsthand exposure to the research process (King et al 2018), but COSI is the rare science center that has permanent working research laboratories integrated into the museum’s public floor. The Labs in Life were created jointly by COSI and OSU to showcase Ohio State research and foster interaction between researchers and the public, with the goals of creating excitement about science and encouraging children and youth to pursue careers in science. Researchers from the College of Optometry and the School of Education’s Exericise Science program were previous residents of the exhibit. Currently, the exhibit hosts researchers from the Communications department and the College of Pharmacy, in addition to the Language Pod.
Figure 1. The Language Sciences Research Lab testing area, as seen from the floor of the COSI museum.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Linguistics: The formal study of language, including its history, structure, representation, and use.
Informal Science Learning: Learning that individuals do on scientific topics that is done without formal classroom instruction or classroom assessment practices.
Free-Choice Learning Environment: A location, such as a science center or a museum, where individuals choose for themselves what learning activities they will engage with and for how long they will engage in them.
Strands of Science: An approach to informal science education set forth by the National Research Council which identifies six key goals, or strands, for an educator to bring to their interactions.
Language Science: An alternative term for Linguistics, but one that is often considered to be more inclusive of scientists working in departments such as Psychology, Speech & Hearing Sciences, and Computer Science.
Language Myth: A commonly held belief about language – how it works, how it should be used, what it tells us about individuals – that has been discredited by Language Science.
Public Engagement: The practice of educating the general public in a way that fosters mutual interaction allows for positive contributions from both sides.