In Mindshift:
"Most of the people that I know who got into science and technology benefited from a set of informal experiences before they had much formal training," said Dale Dougherty, editor of Make Magazine and founder of Maker Faire on KQED's Forum program. "And I mean, like building rockets in the backyard, tinkering, playing with things. And that created the interest and motivation to pursue science."
That spirit of play and discovery of knowledge is missing from much of formal education, Dougherty said. Students not only have no experience with making or the tools needed to build things, they're often at a tactile deficit. "Schools haven't changed, but the students have," Dougherty said. "They don't come with these experiences."
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