Importance of Science in Children's learning

[funkky121]

I was just wondering if anyone will like to help me in discussing 'importance of science in children's learning'. Why is Science so important? If it's important, how does children develop scientific understanding? If science is not important in children's learning, do they ever develop scientific understanding?

 

Grateful for your response.

[hermanntrude]

it is my firm belief that we are born scientists. Since a baby has no means of gathering information from another person via language, they must divine every iota of information by empirical research. Babies learn so much during their early years that they must be able to process information in a more efficient and logical manner than any adult. The problem is that when a baby grows old enough to learn from older people they start to receive messages which contradict each other, or are wrong, or vague. This is when the red-herrings start to accumulate. A comical but representative example is when my father told me (as a joke) that mountain goats have one pair of legs longer than the other and spend their entire lives spiralling up the mountain, and, once they reach the top, unable to return, they die.

 

the best way to learn anything is through a scientific approach. The dichotomy of science vs. art is a false one.

[thedarkshade]

People have different tastes for everything. Some people like rock, some people like classical music and some other like rap. The same thing stands all the things in life. Some people dream to be a TV star, some other prefer art and some do indeed care about science. There is this groups of people that likes to explore, to see how things work, to understand the reality around, to have a rational sense of (hopefully) everything, and the best way you can do this is through science. It is this magical thing which indeed is very very interesting. The best of it is that it clearly has practical uses, which makes it not just be interesting, be interesting and useful at the same time. What could be better?

 

Where I live, unfortunately very little importance is given to science education and that I believe is due to political issues which have been giving us a really hard time. It is crucial for a country which wants to have a good development to invest in science education, because it is an investment that certainly pays back. I am really glad to see how the number of students interested in sciences generally is rapidly increasing. This indicates the general awareness of the importance of science.

 

Once I heard Richard Dawkins saying (I think he was quoting someone) "Science is interesting, and you don't agree than fu*ck off." - A rough way to put it but indeed he is right (as always).

[smellincoffee]

I was just wondering if anyone will like to help me in discussing 'importance of science in children's learning'. Why is Science so important? If it's important, how does children develop scientific understanding? If science is not important in children's learning, do they ever develop scientific understanding?

 

Grateful for your response.

 

I was raised in a fundamentalist cult that actively discouraged a lot of learning, especially science. A love for learning in childhood was squelched when I was sucked into the cult in high school, but once I left it around the age of nineteen, I rediscovered a love. While in my case I was merely finding that love for learning again, I have read many stories of people who discovered the joys of science and history when they started leaving their own backgrounds -- and these were adults. I think it is possible for an adult to gain a love for learning, but the older a person gets, the more prejudices they're prone to acquiring. That said, I think it's more important to instill a love for education in children than getting them to memorize facts, because those facts vanish by and large once people leave the educational system.

[ian23]

you can teach children the fundamentals of science.. that would be interesting to them...

[magi13]

I was just wondering if anyone will like to help me in discussing 'importance of science in children's learning'. Why is Science so important? If it's important, how does children develop scientific understanding? If science is not important in children's learning, do they ever develop scientific understanding?

 

Grateful for your response.

 

Teach your children the scientific method. It's the principle basic concept of science. ^,^

[MM6]

I was just wondering if anyone will like to help me in discussing 'importance of science in children's learning'. Why is Science so important? If it's important, how does children develop scientific understanding? If science is not important in children's learning, do they ever develop scientific understanding?

 

Grateful for your response.

 

Why is science important?

 

Science is the quest for truth and knowledge. That drive to explore and understand is burned into our DNA, it's part of being human. Do you brush your teeth and wash your hair? Ever ride in a car or jet? Have you ever taken medicine when sick? Ever read a book, eaten a candy bar, made a phone call? Without science we would still be rubbing sticks together to make fire. Actually, the quest for fire was a scientific process. The progress of science means we're sitting here discussing this as we are.

 

If it's important, how do children develop scientific understanding?

 

I completely agree with hermanntrude.

 

 

I just noticed this is an old post, but the topic is interesting.

[iNow]

Learning science is less about the mere acquisition of facts/knowledge and more about laying the foundation for "how to think."

[MM6]

Learning science is less about the mere acquisition of facts/knowledge and more about laying the foundation for "how to think."

 

I hear that a lot (in education circles), but thinking cannot exist in a vacuum of facts. "Mere facts" are not mere at all, they are requisite for solving problems or even forming legitimate hypotheses. For example, the simple problem of a light bulb burning out and a room going dark: A person who has no knowledge of what a light bulb is, or a lamp, a socket, electricity, light and dark, has no realistic way of solving the problem by replacing the light bulb (or understanding what it is they did if they happen to guess correctly and replace the bulb).

 

I think what you're getting at is that science as a process is at least as important as science as a body of knowledge. If so, I agree.

[June]

I think that children should be free to learn what ever they want in what ever way they want, when they want and how they want.

If left to their own devices they will find ways to approach and learn the things that they deem important.

I think that if any kind of learning is pushed upon them, it can result in the development of an aversion to the subject, and a stunt in natural curiosity and eagerness to learn.

 

Now, in this age of media and technology, an abundance of information is, if not at our finger tips, in our face. If we are going to make a point of teaching anything, I think that critical thinking and the ability to filter through all the information coming towards us and find what is true and important, are the skills that need to be taught, in the place of actual 'science'.