Wednesday, October 05, 2005

How Kids Learn Science

I'm sure many of us, growing up, thought science was about memorizing facts and dealing with end-of-chapter questions (with the answers, conveniently, located in the back of the textbook).

I had the opportunity to interview Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Research Institute this week for another publication. As I was doing research for the interview, I came across this interview with him:

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/col1int-1

(bear with me, I'm still learning HTML)

My favorite section describes how he came to learn science was about questions that didn't have ready answers:

>>It was the 10th grade in high school, it was the first day of the chemistry course. Mr. House, this wonderful man who'd dedicated his life to getting high school students excited about science, came in and said, "We're going to do an experiment today. I'm going to give you this box, which is painted black, and it has an object inside it and I want you figure out all the ways that you might investigate this to figure out what the object is." And my initial reaction was, "What a dumb idea!" And then I started to try to come up with a list of the kinds of experiments one could do to determine what's inside this black box. And I got caught up in it. It was the first time I think that somebody had challenged me to come up with the ideas. I had some exposure to science in previous courses, but it was, "Here's the facts, learn them." This was, "Okay, I'm challenging you. Here's a problem, how would you solve it?" And I knew something was different here.<<

Has anyone else had such an "A-ha!" moment, or seen one in your children? - Laura
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3 comments:

Laura Vanderkam said...

Jackie- I agree. I understand that math and reading are very important for children, but it is too bad that science then becomes a luxury. I guess we will just have to spend more time pointing out all the science lessons in the universe to children outside of school. I just read a fascinating chapter in a book called "Laundry" (by Cheryl Mendolson) about the chemistry of washing. You experiment with acids and bases to remove stains. Washing soda is 11.8 pH... Detergents are usually 9-11. Woolite is a bit over 7.... I hope your son enjoys his birthday reading about the inventors.

9:19 AM
Mary VK said...

I found this article in the South Bend Tribune. A gift to a child can make a big difference! However, chemistry sets these days are probably far safer and not nearly as much fun.

October 7, 2005

Nobel winner in chemistry has roots in Indiana

BERNE, Ind. (AP) -- One of three men awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday has roots in northeastern Indiana.

Richard R. Schrock, 60, a professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was born in Berne and raised for part of his life in Decatur, both southeast of Fort Wayne.

Schrock, born Jan. 4, 1945, was the youngest of three boys, The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported. The family soon moved to Decatur, about 10 miles north, where the boys attended Decatur schools until the family moved to San Diego in 1959.

Schrock said at a news conference at MIT that he became interested in chemistry when he was given a chemistry set as an 8-year-old, and at first liked to "blow things up."

His mother, too, remembers that early chemistry set and the flaming experiments in the basement.

"He did everything with it, short of killing the family cat and burning down the house," Martha Schrock of Montana said.

5:38 PM
Anonymous said...

Sometimes, these gambles pay off, but there are occasions when they fail miserably,

9:14 AM

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