Avoiding Science
by Theresa Bondora

Despite my strong desire to become a doctor, I assumed that I was incapable of doing real science. I changed my major to education with certification in science. I avoided the Chemistry and Physics and took the biological and biomedical classes. But as I grew older and more confident I decided to challenge myself with Chemistry I. I expected to have to drop the class but day after day it was easy. Chemistry 1 led to 2 and then to 3 where I finished the self-paced lab-only class in record time with a record score. I lost my fear and was overjoyed at the fun I was having and the realization that it was easy. Next was the physics series. Same story. When I wound up in a college Physics 3 class in a 6-hour final exam I just stopped and looked at myself, amazed at what I was doing. Our instructor had taken the exam from an MIT professor to give us. I made the highest grade in the class on that exam and ended my class with a very high "A". ME! I’m not special; I’m normal.

How could I have this level of science ability and not know it? I began to realize that the skills that were necessary to do well in these classes I had inadvertently taught myself along the way. It was the development of these skills, not the random exposure to content, that helped me succeed. That’s when I knew what was wrong with the way we teach science. The way we were taught, with chemistry saved for high school, with the elitist attitude toward the "harder" sciences, with books that stress content, is not at all the way to show our children how science works.

To teach science effectively, we must first dump our ideas of what children are capable of understanding. We should be teaching basic science skills to our toddlers. We should start science content with chemistry, the mother science, by putting a periodic table made for children on the wall (As a side note, I couldn’t find a periodic table for children so I made one, patented it and have made it available for purchase.). Until we begin formal teaching with books, about 4 years from college, we need to teach science skils. When teaching any content we should focus on all sciences each year. For example, in year one, we don’t just cover living things and rocks; We
cover chemistry, physics, biology, and earth science--all at a basic level, and how each is dependent on the other.

But only as the child shows interest, we stress skills above content. Every year, we build upon the concepts learned the year before. Because the child has been learning the basic science skills, most can understand and master these skills by age 13. At that point teaching the content starting with chemistry and then physics should be easy because they have been exposed to it, progressively, without a pre-programmed fear. One science a year is all it should take and in four years our children can be perfectly ready to ace any college science class by age 17.

But why are these skills important? Why can’t we just get a book and teach them science? Because it doesn’t matter what you know about whales or space or dinosaurs when you get to college. What matters is your ability to jump in and be a scientist. Your child will not be able to follow college science lectures if he has no chemistry. He or she won’t be able to complete lab or write it up. No they don’t teach this to you in college. It is expected that you arrive knowing. Many don’t, many are confused and many drop, vowing to never take another college science class.

What are the skills our children need to think scientifically? Those skills are: the ability to think analytically and logically, good observation and inference skills, problem solving skills, good descriptive writing skills, measuring skills, memorization skills, the ability to quickly read and interpret diagrams, graphs and charts, following steps and the ability to think creatively, outside the box while using basic scientific laws.

There are many things you can do to help your child develop these skills and it needs to start in the very early years. Later in life these skills will also be useful in their daily lives when trying to understand concepts that challenge their previous understandings of the world around them. Being scientifically minded means being able to rationally live in and understand our world as opposed to being led by commercials, public opinion and politicians.

When I speak and do interviews I hear from parents that they don’t know chemistry and they need to get a book to start learning before they’ll
progress through this material. I’m hearing anxiety. My goal is to change the way you think about science, the way YOU were taught to see science. Don’t get stuck believing that you have to master it before you can teach it. You don’t have to be Pythagoras to teach math and you don’t have to be Einstein to teach chemistry. Get a periodic table up on the wall and familiarize yourself and your child with it. Then begin to notice what’s on it. Take your time. Discover it with your child. The booklet I’m writing that comes with the periodic table teaches how to use it and how it works. The web site for the table will also have some good ideas as well. Get a high school Chemistry book and start reading. You’ll be surprised how much of it is very easy to understand. You are not the same person you were in high school.

Most of you who home school do not doubt the abilities of your children to master this material. But have you helped to show your child that these concepts are simple to learn? If you have skipped chemistry and physics until they are older, you are sending the message that these subjects are hard and cannot be attempted until later. Therefore, these subjects maintain a mystique and are feared. Of course they will fear it, if it’s hidden away and sprung on them in their teen years. I love science and I hope to help us all teach our children how easy and fun science can be. I hope to dispel the myths that surround the "harder" sciences, so our children can pursue their dreams of being doctors, dentists, veterinarians, wildlife or marine biologists, astronauts, anything they want to be! I hope to change the way our country teaches science to our children, stressing skills over content and chemistry exposure early so that we raise a generation of children who get to choose or not choose science instead of avoiding
science or fearing it.

About the author: Teresa Bondora is a former public school science teacher. She resides with her family in Mobile, AL where she homeschools her children and works from home to help teachers and parents unlock the mysteries of science for their kids. For more info, online workshops and more, see http://www.howtoteachscience.com