Shortcomings in Science Communication and Education: Possible Remedies at the Darwin-Dohrn Museum

Abstract

Formal education, in most countries, is based on abstractions that are inflicted to young humans with the intention of providing them with interpretative keys to understand the world… later. The approach is eminently deductive: rules first, facts later. Our natural way of learning, however, is inductive: we learn to speak (facts) first and only later we learn the rules. Furthermore, nature is almost absent in formal programs: the natural curiosity of young humans for natural things (biophilia) is discouraged. To cope with this shortcoming, scientific communication focuses on amazing things (the ohh strategy) that never provide awareness (ahh) about natural patterns and processes. Nobody knows that diatoms and copepods are the most important plants and animals that allow for the functioning of planetary ecosystems. The Darwin-Dohrn Museum is an attempt to merge the ohhh and the ahhh strategies.