Learning for Fun: Article Response

Regardless of a visitor’s motivations for going to an educational leisure site (museum, aquarium, national park, etc.), the experience almost always results in learning. Visitors cannot help but learn, whether they realize it or not, as they interact in the setting. Jan Packer expounds on the unique aspects of these places, breeding grounds for informal learning. “Some of the characteristics that educational leisure settings provide, that seem to facilitate the process of learning for fun, include a rich sensory experience, novelty surprise, fascination, nostalgia, and the freedom to explore and to engage with information at a range of levels.…What is new is the understanding that it is these characteristics that make the process of learning fun.” Visitors find their time, and the learning that results from it, effortless. As opposed to traditional groans of students in formal learning situations, visitors generally find learning to be fun and, consciously or unconsciously, are drawn into experiences that involve learning. The discovery, choice, and engagement of senses are then coupled with an ease that removes the burden of work from learning and infuses joy.

(Digital) educational leisure (web)sites are similar in that they are interactive worlds (though notably less physical and sensory rich than real-life settings) where one has the freedom to explore and “window-shop” about learning. I recently rewatched a TED talk in the presence of a kindergartener and a first grader. The subject of the talk, the Google Art Project, led to exploration in that site, traveling to London, Florence, and New York City in a matter of moments to discover outstanding art in top museums. All from their living room in Chengdu, China. After some time had passed, the first grader asked if the speaker’s name was Ted. No, it was Amit. But then from where do we get the name TED? We returned to the TED site to seek out the answer (Technology, Entertainment, and Design, if you were curious). The first grader asked if he could watch another TED talk. Not Spongebob. Not Tom and Jerry. Could he watch another lecture from the site? Browsing about, the category of animals struck his fancy. We proceeded to watch two talks, the first about a species of snakes and crocodiles native to India and the second about leopard seals.

For this first grader and his kindergarten younger brother, learning is still fun. The joy and excitement has not been taken away by years of formal learning via rote memorization, boring lectures, and standardized testing. The world is still anxiously awaiting them, full of vast places and things they can discover. Yet for adults, few recognize, like the aquarium visitor, “that you’re learning all the time—you learn something every day of the week…” (336). Instead, we need to wander into an educational leisure site for recreation, with the intent to only be there for 10 minutes, and get lost for an hour and a half to rediscover the joy of learning (335). These sites, be it digital or real-world, awaken a love of learning that left for so many when school got boring, hard, and seemingly meaningless.



Assignment: Select a single sentence or two from the reading that is central to the essence of the reading. Reflect on this sentence or two, the content of the reading, and personal experience in similar situations or conditions.

Reference:
Packer, J. (2006). Learning for Fun: The Unique Contribution of Educational Leisure Experiences. Curator, 49 (3), 329-344.