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But this is the feeling a lot of people seem to have these days, and it’s not because they’re stupid. I prefer to think it’s a misunderstanding of what science is about, so I hope I can help straighten it out a bit.

First off, there are bad scientists out there. I mean this in two ways – there are evil/selfish people who don’t care whether they hurt others, and there are people who are incompetent. There are also bad teachers, bad lawyers, bad police, bad midwives, and bad parents. You get the picture – any occupation can have people doing it who are good, bad, lazy, hardworking, brilliant, average, friendly, morose, or any other set of opposites. By the same token, there are some darn good teachers, lawyers, police, midwives and parents. Oh, and scientists.

And the world just isn’t black and white. Things need to be evaluated not only in terms of their risks, but their benefits too. So monoculture farming is bad for the environment, but it allows us to feed an awful lot of people. Is it the only way to feed them all? Probably not (I don’t know that much about farming), but do you know how we’re going to find another way? Science.

Science is going to be the key. Because as I’ve said in an earlier post, science is a method of investigation. So there are scientists out there who are studying crop yields and how to improve them, nutrition, ecology, non-chemical methods of pest control, you name it. It was scientists who discovered global warming, convinced various governments and are now working on solutions. If you don’t like petrol, do you know the chemistry to produce an alternative fuel? If you don’t like nuclear power, do you know how to design and build a microgenerator? If you are interested in making rational parenting decisions, do you know how to evaluate your choices?  Our children are going to inherit a complicated world. In order to understand it, they need to be comfortable with scientific ways of thinking and evaluating so they can come up with their own answers.  Science is what’s going to get us out of this mess.

What are some of the things you find of most concern, for your future and your children?  How do you think they can be solved?  Do you think science could play a part?  Comment and let everyone else know!

The site is very professional and easy to negotiate.  On the front page is a link for the extremely cool Virtual Tour.  This is not a video, but a 360 degree still photo that you can move around in.  It automatically circles, but you can also click and drag to look at specific things and zoom in and out.  I certainly get a kick out of moving it around, and it’s something little kids can do as soon as they can control the mouse. 

The purpose of the site is to entice you to go, so it’s not overloaded with information.  But there’s some things that will interest kids in the FAQs and some really beautiful fact sheets.  They are well worth printing if you have a good quality printer, and the information is at a good general primary school level that can be interpreted for younger kids.

The other section that’s definitely worth a visit is the Education tab.  The Curriculum links are aimed at excursions, but there are some excellent ideas there for parents or homeschoolers that could be adapted to a more general ocean theme.  Even better, they refer to specific worksheets that are available as PDFs.  While I wouldn’t suggest using them as they are at home, there are some that can be easily modified and done with children of all ages. 

 This site is well worth a visit, and so is AQWA itself.  Even within it’s limits as a teaser it has stunning photographs and interesting facts that are at the right level to be accessible and interest kids (and adults).  Add in some of the printable ideas and it’s a great place to start to learn more about oceans, especially if you happen to live in WA. 

Other Sites

A few suggestions. I haven’t reviewed these, but may at a later date.  If anyone has any to add to the list or comments on the sites, just leave a comment!

• Sydney Powerhouse Museum
• Werribee Open Range Zoo
• San Diego Zoo
• South Australian Museum
• Anglo-Australian Observatory

There is so much (maths) discussion you can do here – up, down, short, tall, long – and your kids will be disappointed when dinner arrives.

Recipe:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon oil

Method:

Put dry ingredients and oil in a bowl, then gradually add water and mix.  When it’s a dough, turn it out onto a floured board and knead.  If it’s too wet, add more flour.  If it’s too dry, add water.  Seriously, that’s it.  It does better if left for around 20 minutes before use, which is a good time to clear up and get your tools ready.  You can use it to make all sorts of things, the easiest is to roll it out and use biscuit cutters. 

It can be dried naturally, or in a very cool oven.  Try starting at 50C for half an hour then putting it up to 100C, how long it takes depends on how thick the pieces are but it will be a few hours.  Drying too quickly will make them crack, so err on the side of caution.  Any extra can be wrapped tightly and stored in the fridge for a few days, but it will dry out in air.

Science:

For younger babies – Use it to make a record of hand and foot prints, you do have to push quite firmly.  Or paint it bright colours to make a mobile or simple windchime for them to watch and listen to.  Just punch holes in your shapes before drying along with a circle with holes around the edge and donger, then string them together.

For older babies – Texture, taste, smell.  Kneading it is fantastic fun, they can squish it and roll it.  It’s safe if they try to eat it, and so strong they’re very unlikely to swallow.  The salt crystals make it look shiny.

For toddlers – Try some variations like adding food colouring or different smelling oils and discuss the differences.  Introduce the idea of changes – it was dry, it gets wet when it’s mixed, it dries out again, the colour changes when it cooks.

For preschoolers – measuring is a great maths and science skill.  Talk about more flour, the same amount of salt and water, a cup is bigger than a tablespoon and what you do first and next.  Try making two batches and doing some simple comparisons, asking “What happens if we …?”

• What happens if we put in more/less flour?
• What happens if we put in more/less water?
• What happens if we use rock salt?
• What happens if we use very fine cooking salt?
• What happens if we make the shapes thicker?
• What happens if we make the shapes longer and wider?

This may sound like it’s a lot of extra work, but in fact it’s a good thing, truly an opportunity.  This is because one of the hardest things with little kids is filling the days and keeping them occupied, and anything that draws an activity out and extends that attention span is pretty good.  It is just a matter of training yourself to notice the opportunities around you and take advantage of them, turning your vision outward rather than inward.

Some examples?

• In the shower – Mummy!  Your boobs are blue!  Cue simple explanation of blood circulation and veins. (Blood carries things we need around our bodies.  When it’s dropped it all off it turns blue and goes back to pick up more.  You can see it looks blue where the blood is moving under my skin.)
• Why is it raining?  The water in the air all sticks together until it gets too heavy for the clouds and falls down.
• How did that light get in the tree?!  This one took a bit to understand, I had to get down on the floor with her before I could see the room light reflected in the window looked like it was up in a tree.  Simple explanation of glass acting as a mirror, helped by the mirror on the wall.

Daddy: We’re driving over the Todd River.
Toddler: No it’s not!
Daddy: Yes, ask Mummy.
Toddler:  But there’s no water!
When appealed to later, I agreed with Daddy that it was indeed the Todd River.  In Alice Springs it is very dry, and the water soaks into the earth and is all underground, which is why lots of trees and plants could grow in the river because they’re drinking the water underneath.  You only see water on the top when there’s been lots and lots of rain.

• When I closed my eyes I saw two red spots!  It looks like there’s a tiger watching me!  Luckily this was more excited than scared.  Two red spots had me a bit stumped, until I did the obvious and checked the light to see there were two globes.  Your brain in your head gets used to things, so it’s used to your eyes telling it there are lights there.  When you shut your eyes it thinks the lights are still there, so you see the red spots.

So once they can talk there are heaps of cues.  But what about before they are asking a million questions? 

• At the moment our favourite saying is “Newton was right!  Gravity works here too!” 
• As I was walking along with my baby I stripped off a few rosemary leaves, crushed them and held them under her nose.  I gave them to her and she rolled them, played with them and put them in her mouth (and spat them out pretty quickly, too).  

We all spend hours carrying babies around, how often do you stop and point things out to them?  Do you point out sounds and let them feel textures and smell things as well? 

So here’s a challenge.  Just count how many times a day you could encourage your baby to look, listen, touch, smell, taste.   How many times a day does your toddler ask a question?  When you are regularly getting to a hundred before lunch, you’re noticing the teaching opportunities your children are offering you.  Let me know some of the weird and wonderful things you end up doing!

The solution – put them to work!  My eldest was scared of the vacuum until one day I was cleaning the playdough out of her bed (don’t ask) and now it is the best toy. She’s pretty good at vacuuming, but better at experimenting.  There are heaps of things they can learn while vacuuming, so I’ll just do one today:

What can you learn with a vacuum?

Electricity

It will only work when the cord is plugged in and turned on.  Our homes are filled with electrical equipment, but how often do we stop and explain that energy travels out of the wall and down the cord to make the vacuum work.  The vacuum changes the energy into other types

Baby questions – What can you hear?

• What can you feel? (Both the sucking and putting your hand on the machine) 
• What happens when you point it at things?

Toddler question – What sort of things is the vacuum doing? 

Vacuuming hair feels really weird!

• Making noise
• Getting hot
• Some of them have lights
• Inside it is moving (which is what makes it suck).

Extension question – what other things in our house get electricity out of the wall? What do they change the energy into?

Pre-schooler/Reader extension – Make up cards with either words or pictures of the different sorts of energy you identify around the house – electricity, heat, sound, light, movement and chemical for batteries and fuel are the main ones – plus an arrow.  Even better, let your kids choose and draw the cards!  Use them to represent the different machines around the house, e.g.

Vaccuum cleaner

Energy changes in a vacuum

Firstly – get out there! Before you go, get some towels and nice warm clothes ready and some soup or hot chocolate that can be easily heated. Put layers on your kids (they seem to keep dryer) and if you want raincoats or even the old plastic garbage bag. Or the alternative is to just get naked. We lived in the tropics for a while, so that was generally our option.

Babies: No, they won’t dissolve or break. And mine seem to have a lovely layer of blubber and generally not notice (we’ve usually been in warm rain). Rain is a feast for the senses and they will notice all sorts of things.

Sight: rain dripping from leaves and grasses makes them move as the weight shifts and changes. If you find one that is moving fairly quickly they will bob along with it.

Little streams carry light things along, they will watch and touch the moving leaves.

Smell: Lots of things smell stronger when wet, give them the opportunity to smell leaves, earth, grass, dogs, …

Touch: Mud, glorious mud! Did you realise playdough is really only a substitute for getting your hands and feet into the mud and squishing it around? Try different types of dirt for comparison.

You hit that water! Hit puddles of different depths and compare the splashes. See how far the splash can go. Can you do both hands at once?

Put your hand under the drips and streams or even stand under it and feel it on your head and back. What’s that pushing my hand along?

Sound: When you hit the different puddles what sounds do you make? Can you hear the raindrops? Can you be really quiet and hear the little stream?

Taste: The mud doesn’t seem to have hurt my little obsessive, but I’d really rather she wouldn’t. Does anyone know when it stops being exploration and becomes pica?

Toddlers: They seem to have a complete disdain for cold and dislike for clothes. They will love doing all the same things as babies, but with a few extensions. Asking them questions can spark ideas and add more to the fun, and testing is the beginning of science.

Extensions: Making mudpies or castles, writing or drawing with sticks.

• How tall can you make it?
• What does the rain do to it?
• How would you make it last longer?
• What if you try it over here?

Playing poohsticks, aka leaf racing. This can become an enormous production if you test different leaves and twigs to see which go faster, which go further, or which go straighter.  

• What if you try a bigger leaf?
• A smaller one?
• Some grass?
• What about different shapes?

How to do the biggest splash.  

•  Should you stamp in a shallow puddle or a deep one?
• Do hands or feet work better?
• What about Mummy’s foot?

Building dams.

• What happens to the water when you build a dam?
• What are the best materials to use ie should we try some rocks?  should we try some twigs?
• What about your construction techniques?
• What happens if you break the dam and let all the water out?

 Wow, that’s just a few ideas I can see I’ll be adding more. So now run inside and put them under a nice warm shower, tickle them while getting the warm clothes on and snuggle together with your soup for lunch. You could even read about poohsticks or sing about the rain, but not “Rain, rain, go away,” because you’ve had your play.

Obviously I’m not advocating letting them loose – do you really think it’s a good idea to entrust a toddler with a machine worth thousands of dollars?  But I do think computer games under supervision and in small doses are a great way of playing with older babies and toddlers, and are good for their language and fine motor skills.  We started with my daughter sitting on my lap or on the desk.  She would point at the screen where she wanted me to click.  Then she started using a mouse on her own, either she would move it and I would click, or I would line it up for her to click.  Then she started doing it all for herself.  At 3 she’s fully proficient with the mouse, can find her own icons of the things she’s allowed to use, and adores typing and computer drawing using programs like Paint.  She can type her own name and with help her sister, Mummy, Daddy, Granny and Poppy.  We have not tried to teach her any of this, she has wanted to do it all.  It’s probably as much a comment on how much time her parents spend on the computer as anything else.

You don’t need the internet, we’ve also had a lot of fun with very basic text editors and drawing programs, but there are lots of game sites out there.  These are just some we have experienced.

Fisher Price Online Learning Games - Obviously a commercial site, but I’ve found the games to be surprisingly good.  They use their characters, but if your child doesn’t recognise them, there’s no hard sell.  I’m not that fond of the infant games – put it this way, letting a baby hit the keyboard is a recipe for needing a new keyboard, or even a new laptop.  However if you have an old keyboard you can plug in for them then let them bash away.  They’re basically the same as a jack-in-the-box – hit the button and something pops up. 

The toddler games I quite like, there is a bit of a variety.  I do find the language in some of them is too advanced and think they’re aimed at 3 or 4 year olds, but my daughter was happy to click on them even when she didn’t understand.  And the repetition and form of the language is pretty good – asking the same question over and over.  They also have stories you can personalise, another way to read with your child.  And they are good pictures that you can talk about as well as use the text.  Another great thing is the number of different print outs they have.  You can print enough colouring in sheets to last you until school if you really want. 

Kiddies Games - Not as slick as the big sites but there are some endearing games here.  I found some of the accents a bit hard, but there are simple games for simple concepts such as body parts, colours and left and right.  Another good feature is that they work through both keyboard and mouse, so they can be used for ‘let’s have a bash’ or for real attempts to answer.  And if you wait they give you the answer, so there is always interaction.  Plus some of them don’t correct – if you were supposed to click red but click orange it doesn’t say you’re wrong, it just says ‘Now the baby is dressed in orange.’  These were a big hit with us.

ABC Kids - The ABC is the Australian national broadcaster.  Personally I find the site a bit confusing, but that may be because I’m not a kid.  My daughter finds all sorts of things here.  I’ve found clicking on The Playground (the box type thing) is the least frustrating – you know there will be online games there.  If you go to the Games and Activities section some of them only have print outs, which doesn’t go down well with a 2 year old who wants to play.  There are a variety of games, using matching, colouring and imagination, plus stories to watch.  I think this site is really well done, the controls are really kid friendly so once they can use the mouse they can be quite independent – there’s nothing worse than having to have Mum take over and navigate. 

There is also a feature called “Playground Radio” where they (or parents!) can set their own playlists of pretty good songs.  This does need a good connection, but there is a downloadable version as well.

And of course there are the commercial sites.  Search for just about any TV show or toys aimed at kids and there will be online games.  They vary in quality, but we’ve had fun searching for all sorts of things. 

As I said, I think it is important to help our kids learn about computers, with supervision.  The same way we help them draw, glue, paint and read, it’s another indoor activity to add to your toolkit.

I’ve seen it claimed that science is on a par with religions, that it is a belief system.  It absolutely is not.  A lot of facts have been discovered through scientific enquiry, but they are different to beliefs because they are based on evidence that can be tested.  And even though it has discovered a lot of facts, and uses a lot of facts, that isn’t what science is.  Science is a process of enquiry, a way of learning about the world.

A lot is also made about ‘The Scientific Method’ and this isn’t really right either.  It’s very simplistic, because it reduces what scientists do to a type of recipe.  In practice there are two parts to scientific enquiry – the creative thought to come up with a possible explanation, then the rigorous testing to see if the theory works.  It is all grounded in nature, what is possible, what fits with the evidence and the work that came before.  And the testing has to be robust, repeatable, as strong as possible so we can be confident that what we are learning is right. 

So simply, science is a way of learning about the natural world that is based on a commitment to clear, testable evidence and logic.  It is about questioning everything, even your own results and especially your own thoughts.  It is about being able to fit things together with what you think you already know, but being ready to abandon those thoughts if the new things you have learnt don’t fit.  It can be said that scientists spend most of their time being wrong, but that’s the fun bit because it leads to new things to think about.

So for parents there are two things we need to do for our potential future scientists, that will be useful for anyone going into any field.  The first is to teach them to question and test, something that hasn’t always been encouraged.  And if that worries you, and you think that too much questioning could be bad, you’re right.  But science is about disciplined and controlled questioning, questioning that fits within the framework of what is already known and then tests the answers, not questioning for the sake of it.  So as parents we need to help our children understand that framework.  Because that’s the second thing we need to do, help our little ones learn as much about the world around them as they can.  I think most parents will agree that’s just a matter of letting them loose!

* Just in case you’re wondering, falisfiability means that it can be tested and found to be wrong.  If it can’t be tested, it’s not science – this is why creation myths (including ID) are not scientific, they don’t allow us to make predictions that can be tested.  If it can’t be wrong, it’s not science – this is why Freud is not scientific, he could explain everything.  Incidentally, not being able to be tested right now with the resources we currently have is not a problem, some great technological inventions have been because someone wanted to test a prediction so they invented a new way to do it.  You should see the toys quantum physicists play with.