ETEC 643 Reflections: Miarikan Museum Visit

Since pictures are usually worth more than words, I thought I'd share some photos of my visit to Miraikan, Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. While planning our trip to Japan last summer, my boyfriend and I knew that we wanted to attend at least one museum. I was really hoping to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Sumida, but we never actually made it there. After spending nearly a week walking around Tokyo in July, we were ready for some relief inside an air-conditioned building towards the end of our trip. We did a little research and chose to visit the Miraikan due to its convenient location in Odiba and its focus on technology and innovation. Since I'm a technology resource teacher and my boyfriend is a network engineer, we knew that we would both be interested in the content of this museum.

Taking ETEC 643 this semester has given me a new lens to view my past informal learning experiences through. I've also been reflecting on the complications and challenges that informal learning in a foreign country can bring. We definitely experienced some barriers with language and accessing content during our time at the Miraikan. Those hiccups aside, I'm so glad that we took time to visit this museum, as I would've regretted it later. Below are some of our favorite "experience-ology" moments during our museum visit.