I got to take Presidents' Day off this week, so we took a trip to the Carnegie Science Center. (We got a special deal on a year-long membership to the Pittsburgh museums, but until now hadn't been able to take advantage of it. Mostly due to the museums' visiting hours not being conducive to anyone with an actual work schedule.)
It was packed with children, most likely on vacation themselves. We missed the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood planetarium show, but we were able to attend the "Kitchen Theater" where they do shows on science in the kitchen. This particular show was called "Fruit Flambé." The museum guide asked the kids what they think "flambé" means, and they all excitedly yelled out "FIRE!!!" One of the little boys on the other side of the room exclaimed rather loudly to anyone who might be listening: "I love fire!" (Attention Boy Scouts of America: good luck with this little guy...)
The museum guide started out with a butter-and-sugar solution and described the difference between a mixture and a solution. She mixed in some bananas, and it smelled great, and she said "Well that's the end of our show. Thanks for coming everyone!" The room got deathly silent as the children looked around at each other trying to figure out why they didn't get to see any fire. The guide didn't leave them squirming for too long, though, as she asked everyone "Did I forget something?" The kids all yelled out "You forgot the fire!" "You're right, we haven't done the fire yet." Our little pyromaniac friend on the other side of the room started chanting "FI-RE! FI-RE! FI-RE!" The guide then went into the science explanation of combustion, with little puzzle pieces with the words "Heat," "Oxygen," and "Fuel" written on them.
It was fun, but when she got to "Fuel," she asked "where are we going to get fuel?" One of the little girls called out "Alcohol!" I was expecting the guide to use a blowtorch and toast the sugar or something, but sure enough, she pulled out a bottle of rum and another bottle of brandy. OK, first, how did that little girl know that the guide was going to use alcohol? Second, isn't it kinda sending kids mixed signals when they're being told not to drink alcohol? I know I know, she explained that the alcohol burns off so it's OK to serve this stuff to kids, but still.
I sent a letter to the Carnegie Science Center voicing my concern about this. We'll see if they respond:
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I recently moved to Pittsburgh and purchased a year membership to all the museums. Until President's Day, we hadn't had a chance to visit the science center. We expected there to be a lot of children and weren't surprised to see the place packed with them! We really enjoyed the experience.
There was one thing however that we found a bit disappointing. We attended the demonstration titled "Fruit Flambe". We do not drink alcohol nor use it in our cooking and thought that at a science center there would certainly be other ways of creating fuel for a "flambe". We were surprised that in a room full of children, bottles of rum and brandy were pulled out and used in the demonstration. We believe it sends a mixed message to children; we tell them not to drink alcohol until they are 21 but they can have it in food provided by the science center? We understand that perhaps everyone else in that room uses alcohol for cooking but we believe it is their responsibility as parents to teach their children what is right and wrong and what is best. Now, we do recognize that the alcoholic content is burned off in the "flambe" process thus making it safe for consumption by children but we do not think it is the science center's right nor privilege to teach those types of lessons to children.
We are now aware that this particular demonstration assumes the privilege of teaching children about alcohol use and will be cautious when bringing our child to your facility in the future.
We would appreciate your evaluation of the messages being presented in the demonstrations at the science center and consideration of alternative methods that would avoid such mixed messages to young audiences.