| Science for kids is sometimes a bit of a frustration, or | | | | important, even essential, that science for kids |
| in some cases an enigma! When I taught science to | | | | becomes an integral part of their lives? This means |
| high school students the question that was often put to | | | | beyond the classroom and the science fair project. |
| me was "Yea, but what relevance is this going to be | | | | The kids of today need to be taught and made aware |
| to me later in life?" I suppose that is a fair question, as I | | | | of science in their lives. How it affects them and how it |
| asked the same of studying Shakespeare when I was | | | | can be utilized to improve their existence, starting now. |
| at school. | | | | The classroom lessons and activities must activate the |
| Now, with some years of "real life" under the belt, I can | | | | minds of the students. How is this done? - hands on |
| look back and realize the lessons that even dear old | | | | activities. Let them feel, touch, smell, hear and see |
| Mr. Shakespeare taught me. Romance, what mistakes | | | | science - yes even if it may make a mess in the |
| not to make and thinking with your head and not your | | | | laboratory. Instead of reading about the ecosystem of |
| heart (OK maybe a little bit of heart) being just some | | | | a pond, let them experience it hands on. Let them get |
| of the few that that great man taught even the most | | | | wet and dirty. Let them catch some of the organisms |
| skeptic scholar, and this without me even knowing it! | | | | and keep them in specimen bottles, at the same time |
| But I digress...this is not about Romeo and Juliet, but | | | | as being aware of not disturbing the fine balance of |
| science. How relevant is science to every day life? Is it | | | | the natural ecosystem. |
| good enough to learn it in the classroom in order to | | | | Yes, educators, science for kids takes effort. To those |
| pass the exam and leave it at that? Realistically, if a | | | | in management positions at schools, it will take planning |
| student's aim is to become an accountant, what | | | | and funds - but if your heart is for education you will |
| relevance does the process of photosynthesis have | | | | heed my words. |
| to his or her existence? | | | | Having said this, the responsibility of making science for |
| I would like to suggest that it is very relevant. To the | | | | kids relevant and exciting lies not solely with the |
| boy who is to train to be a motor mechanic, | | | | schools. Parents need to play their part too. On more |
| understanding forces, viscosity of liquids at different | | | | than one occasion has my family's supper table been |
| temperatures and indeed combustion of volatile | | | | cleared of dishes as impromptu experiments take |
| materials is very relevant. To the girl whose aim it is is | | | | place after our meal. Using objects found in the house |
| to be a landscaper, an understanding of | | | | - from glasses of water filled with food coloring and |
| photosynthesis, nutrient uptake of plants and plant | | | | paper towels to demonstrate diffusion and water |
| pathogens will surely assist her in her business. | | | | uptake in plants, to a magnet, a couple of sewing |
| Yes, and even the future accountant can make use of | | | | needles and a wine bottle cork to make a compass - |
| science knowledge, even if it is to brighten his office | | | | my prodigy has learned, and not forgotten, the finer |
| with pot plants, which will give off the life giving oxygen | | | | details of some aspects of biology, physics, chemistry |
| that keeps him alert during those long hours at the | | | | and earth sciences. |
| desk when the financial year end comes around! | | | | These lessons have no prior planning but arise from |
| I have given a glimpse of the futures of some | | | | the questions asked by the kids after an observation |
| imaginary kids, but what about the now? What about | | | | that day. The observations are either made while |
| science for kids who are in school now? Without | | | | playing in the garden, or in the house, or while reading |
| intending to insult the reader's intelligence, is it not | | | | about something that the young mind needs something |
| obvious that what happens in their lives now affects | | | | tangible to fully understand it. Training kids in the art of |
| the attitudes later in life? Applying this to the topic on | | | | observation, relevant questioning and simple hypothesis |
| hand, what happens with their science education now | | | | formation is the first step in the scientific process and |
| will affect their attitudes to science later in life. Will it be | | | | in making science a part of their lives. |
| a relevant topic or something that will not even enter | | | | Let me end this article with a call to teachers and |
| their minds once they are qualified in their respective | | | | parents of our generation to make science for kids |
| fields of expertise? | | | | more than some words and pictures in a textbook. |
| Having shown that science is relevant in a person's | | | | Science must be life because life itself is in fact |
| career, never mind their day to day life, is it not | | | | science! |