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Yes, but are they learning anything? (Photos were taken in 1992 at Great Explorations)
How not to develop a confident attitude to science in young people! This enthusiastic teacher elbows her way past to do for the children what they could easily have done themselves : simply set up a row of fallen "dominoes". Notice the frustrated hands of the child on the left. Adults used to feeling in control of classroom learning often find it hard to allow children to discover whatever they want to discover, even in a learning environment as carefully structured as this. "If I'm not teaching, then you can't be learning." 
Much better! The trained helper in the yellow uniform is fully involved and quietly facilitating the process of discovery, but stands to one side. It is a good sign that everybody is looking at the exhibit, even the boy on the left who has been reading the notes and questions on the "label". It is often bad news when visitors feel they have to look away from the exhibit at some dominating, self-indulgent "explainer". (We disapprove of science centre staff being called "explainers" for this reason.) Explanatum compulsivum is a widespread mental disorder of adults. Principal symptoms are gleaming eyes, dominating voice, spasmodic arm movements, and insensitivity to feedback. There is no known cure.
This is a well-designed exhibit and the children are managing just fine without adult help (or adult interference!). Social interactions between exhibition visitors of all ages are extremely important. Most educational research and evaluation studies attempt to measure formal gains in factual "knowledge and understanding" and ignore more subtle attitude-changes and long term influences. This is extremely short-sighted! It is quite clear that this kind of experience is now motivating children's interest and enthusiasm for follow-up work back in the classroom, on a massive scale all over the world. Hands-on exhibitions like this complement classroom learning, supplying all the vital ingredients omitted from every formal curriculum ever written: motivation; a true sense of discovery; curiosity; eagerness to learn more; intellectual self-confidence; interest in everyday phenomena; a sense of wonder; wanting to be a scientist when you grow up... . . . THAT'S what they're learning!
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