Last Thursday night I was able to work with the GES center at the Museum of Life & Science in Durham for the after hours event: The Science of Sour. I had never been to the museum before, so I 
was first impressed with the great hands on activities that this museum has for all ages. Every exhibit hall is filled with interactive stations. We were there to help pilot some activities that are being created to share about synthetic biology. As with all new scientific ideas, education is needed at all levels. The program “Building with Biology” is helping museums connect with local scientists in order to share hands on activities with the public.
We spent some time before the event started talking about the activities and about how to talk to the guests. We also talked about the difference between public engagement of science, and the public understanding of science. The training described the differences as one giving someone information and helping their understanding, while the other practice allows people to “do something” and apply that engagement to their understanding of science. It was so interesting to me how these two models are so closely related to the different philosophies of education. The difference between informal education in a museum setting and education in the classroom is that informal education is optional. No one was requiring people to pay and attend an after hours museum event. 
After we finished our training, we worked through the activities and then set up for the event to start. Having never been to an event like this before, I was amazed at the turn out. Over three hundred people had purchased tickets and even more bought tickets at the door. The science of sour event showcased different companies, research groups and scientists that work exclusively with “sour” things, from beer to pickles to kimchi. All of these booths presented on their products and their knowledge of the science of making sour things.
I 
really loved the amount of informal data collection at this event. Many of the booths had some kind of graph, chart or data table where participants added their input. One booth had four different kinds of soy sauce, unlabeled. Participants tried all four and then put a sticker by their favorite before the types were shown. Another 
group had a graph for amount of fermented food eaten in a week, where participants put a star sticker as a data point. At our booth, guests voted on which method of vitamin A production they would support. This really made me see that having data visible is a learning tool. Many times in my classroom, I have asked opinions or collected data, but I am the only one to see the results. I really think that my students could benefit from incorporating some of these informal data graphics in class.
While our booth was not exclusively on “sour-ness” we talked with people as they played games and participated in activities about synthetic biology. I was at the table for over an hour and had people constantly asking questions and talking to me about their ideas about synthetic bio. As a teacher, it was really rewarding for me to listen to people’s ideas and stories and see the engagement of adults on scientific topics. Like I mentioned earlier, I rarely work with students that get to choose my class. Biology is a required class, and state tested… and many students come to my class disliking 
science because of a past experience. So I have to work to get students excited and engaged in science, so that hopefully they will be the future adults engaging in science by choice. 
I really enjoyed this event, and hope to attend events in the future. Click on any of the links below to learn more about building with biology, synthetic bio or the museum of life and science after hours events.