Aquatic Point of View

I visited the New England Aquarium this weekend and beheld a flock of fish. In particular, the poor fish that were in a circular tank. These fish were constantly swimming with no goal, exploration or anything in a dark tank that was circular with a light shining on them as they passed in front of the kids going "wow! That's a lot of fish!" and three seconds later, they proceeded to say "that's boring, lets see the other fish." Looking at these fish, there was a plaque explaining how they have senses that help them see other nearby fish and keep tight formations that can distract and harass predators, I found it interesting and was enraptured by their display, even though the fish must have been bored out of their minds! The seals which were for the most part excited to see people looking at them were happy enough, except for two of them who were brutally mauling, chasing and biting each other to the point of scraping fur and drawing blood. It was upsetting to see them so unhappy that they would fight.

There were other times where little kids disregarded the educational benefits of exhibits. We went to the museum of science and there was an exhibit about archaeology which me and this father were really interested in. The father's kid was not happy. He constantly complained about it being boring and how he wanted to see the baby chicks. The father replied, "Can you sit down and calm down, some people are trying to learn from this." It made me a little upset how unintended most of the kids were about these sciencey things. I remember when I was their age, my favorite thing to do was to look at all the exhibits that were on display! However, not all kids are like me at that age so.... yea.

Overall, I was disappointed at the general disinterest that it seemed kids had in science. The exhibits for the live animals (mainly fish, arthropods, amphibians, and reptiles) seemed rather well put together, not too constrained, the animals had more then enough room to maneuver and, despite the fact that they were still in captivity, I believe the fish and turtles were content with their surroundings.