Teaching Science to Kids

Humans are great story tellers, and there are no restrictions on the stories we are able to tell. Therefore, a natural question is, “Is that true, or just made-up (a lie)?” But then one is left with the honesty for the teller, which may be questioned.  Science provides a way around this problem. Teaching science to kids needs make this way clear. It lies in the fact that any and all scientific information is based on two real-life things: observation and logical reasoning. In turn, observation and logical reasoning can be combined into one thing: Evidence!

Therefore any claimed scientific idea/theory can and should be greeted with: Show me the evidence! If the idea/theory is valid, the speaker will be able to point to actual observations and go through the reasoning that leads from those observations to the conclusion (idea/theory). An idea that is said to be, “accepted by the scientific community” is one for which the observations and reasoning have been checked, tested, and found valid.

You may have learned that the heart of science is the scientific method: question, hypothesis, experiment/test, conclusion. In fact, this is just an elaboration of observation and logical reasoning. The experiment consists of setting up a situation in which one can make a more discerning observation. Further, note that huge areas of science, e.g., anatomy, classification, astronomy, derive solely from observation.

If we teach science only in terms of having kids learn scientific facts, we are missing the main point of science. We need to have them understand that all scientific knowledge is derived from observation and logical reasoning, and we need to have them develop these mind skills for themselves. We don’t want them to end up wondering: Who do you believe? We want them to end up demanding, “Show me the evidence!” and to able to evaluate that evidence

The lessons in BFSU are written in a way that will guide  your teaching science to kids in manner that draws them to observe, question, and exercise their rational reasoning in reaching conclusions, that is basing conclusions on evidence. Beyond science, is there any area of endeavor where this is not a valuable skill?

Bernie Nebel

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