The First Person to Walk on Mars, is in Grade school...

[amicus]

That was a quote, well, kinda, from a television program on The Science Channel, "Roving Mars", which I watched again, for about the third time.

It made me think of how I might influence my children and grandchildren to prepare for the future.

Math and Science in the early grades is something kids usually hate...how can we change that?

I could say more...and make my point, or not, but...I leave it to you?

amicus...

 

[Liar]

My dad tried to influence me to prepare for the future. In the 80's he saw the expansion of the personal computer, and guessed (correctly) that they were the future. So he bought a computer and let us kids play with it as much as we liked, taught me how they were built, what part in the machine did what and how to program them to do stuff.

Because he couldn't fathom a world where computers were as everyday as phones were when he grew up, he thought (incorrectly) that knowing all the nuts and bolts of the hardware,and all the ones and zeroes of the software was an essential knowledge base for the fututre computer user.

What IS the essential knowledge for a computer user today? Software interfaces, document management, data mining, spyware protection, Googling, netiquette and spam filters. Et al. In the mid 90's, most of those terms didn't even exist, let alone in the mind of the average Joe.

So what am I saying? That the future that I (or you, or anyone) fathom, is probably not the future that will be anyway. So the best way to prepare for tomorrow is to let kids know just that; don't expect things to turn out the way you are told they will. Open all your senses and make your own predictions.

Science is, or should be, linked with science fiction. We should talk about the opportunities of scientific progress, the ways science and technology have changed society in just recent years, and tickle the imaginations of the little scientists in the making. The important thing to teach is not how trigonometry works, but what it's good for. But also the linguists the philosophers and the artists. With the same starting point. Show them how it changed the world, and how they too one day will be able to.

 

[N0madS0uL]

I dunno how helpful I can be but I'll say just two things...

1. If they're not interested, then don't force the issue.

2. Teach them to rely on their instincts 'coz that's what they'll need to survive.

 

[3113]

Science is, or should be, linked with science fiction.

That's a really excellent point. It's how I got into science, by reading some really good sci-fi--the whole idea of such fiction in it's "hard" mode being to speculate things like "how do you colonize Mars"--and then using the facts to build on that discussion.

As for kids not liking science or math...to the contrary, kids *love* science at least--IF the science teacher makes it fun. What kid doesn't like to learn chemistry when the science teacher is more like the guys on *Mythbusters* blowing things up and doing weird experiments...rather than just having them read a book?

What kid doesn't like astronomy if they get taken to an observatory and get to look at models of the planets and "travel-to-the-stars" shows in the dome? What kid doesn't like geology if he/she gets to collect shiny rocks and look up what they are? Or doesn't like botany if he/she gets to see strange plants at arboretum, or biology if he/she gets to see strange creatures at the zoo?

Which, obviously, is the answer to the question beyond just reading sci-fi. Science isn't just a classroom. It's real. You take the kids to all these places, you get them interested and they'll pick up the books themselves.
Ditto with math. The best way to learn match is to make them apply it to the real world. If you have to use it to get what you want, then you start to learn it.

Not that I'll ever be a natural at higher mathematics, but my math and knowledge of chemistry improved quite a bit when I got into cooking. When you have to cut a recipe in half, you learn fractions (Half of a 3/4th cup of flour....)--and if you have to double a recipe, you learn how to add. I know a lot of folk that got better at math by playing certain mathematical games.

Hands on, real world. It's always the way to go. And for the theoretical, there's nothing like science fiction. If you want to teach a kid all about colonizing Mars, get them reading Kim Stanley Robinson's *Mars* books, starting with "Red Mars"--that is, if they're advid and advanced eough readers for it.

 

[mikey2much]

At least we got to the moon first

I agree with most of the things that have been said on this thread. However when I look around at the system that we have in place to school our children, and the way that the taxpayers have let them go down. I am forced to think that the man or woman walking on the mars won’t be an American.

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

I agree with most of the things that have been said on this thread. However when I look around at the system that we have in place to school our children, and the way that the taxpayers have let them go down. I am forced to think that the man or woman walking on the mars won’t be an American.

No, most likely they'll be a Russky. Or a Martian.

 

[Guest]

Good points Liar and 3113...

It will be ironic indeed if from the surface of Mars, the first there thank the Mythbusters for inspiring them to go into science.

Besides the love of science, encourage them (as if we have to in this day and age) to know computers. Believe it or not, video games help with eye hand coordination, problem solving etc. Don't let games be overwhelming in their lives, but don't remove them completely either.

People skills will be important too to those cooped up for years on the voyage. Get them involved in team sports.

No one will get to have all the degrees these astronauts will need without great abilities to communicate. Work them early on writing clearly, and speaking in public. Have them make annoucements at church, read aloud from the newspaper at the dinner table, make speeches before other youth etc.

But for all this, don't let them forget to be kids. Let them take risks, fail and learn from them.

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

These days I spend my days doing science research, and my evenings, reading scientific publications and research papers. I don't know about the U.S. (I'm guessing it's better than here in the U.K), but I get really angry when I read my kids' GSCE science text books. They're really uninspiring: They attempt to train kids in the (sometimes difficult) skills of science, without encouraging a scientific outlook or curiosity, which is a recipe for alienation.