Comparing and Contrasting

Here's a little anecdote from our field trip to Mystic Aquarium in CT.

It's school vacation week, so the place is packed with families taking advantage of the time off to have some family fun. Each of my kids brought a friend, and we had a great day.

The aquarium had some "fun centers" set up, in celebration of "Bite Week." They had whale teeth, shark jaws, and fake coral reefs to explore. Most of the kids came over out of curiosity, took a quick glance, fought to play the game they had set up, then moved on to the next thing.

Not my kids.

Jason picked up the two whale teeth (from different types of whales), and declared that he wanted to compare them. He then examined them closely, turned them over in his hands, making connections and - gasp- learning! He asked a multitude of questions, which seemed to delight the staff member at the table. (Finally, he had an audience to demonstrate his knowledge!) Eventually, Jason was asking questions that the staff member didn't know the answers to, so it was time to move on.

Just another small example of learning in the real world. (He also had tons of questions at the touch tank, and got his own "hands on" lesson from the staff member over there on how best to pick up a crab.)