1 12 November 2009

The Future of Science is in the Hands of our Children Our growth engine has run out of a key fuel basic research, announces Adrian Slywotzky in his BusinessWeek article. Basic research is the foundation for scientific innovations. It is the pure research alongside with programs of commercial potential that makes enormous contributions to science itself, technology and the economy of a country. Research made us capable of creating high-paying jobs, new jobs in whole new industries; industries created after new discoveries were made when the transistor was invented, for example. The transistor alone, continues Slywotzky, is the building block for computers, consumer electronics, telecom systems, high-tech medical devices, and much more. Based on that one scientific breakthrough, whole new sectors of our economy were created and with that, all the comforts and benefits that we enjoy (Jischke 6) today. So in order to continue with the worlds progress, to keep evolving, we need innovations; we need basic research. But basic research is endangered these days. Besides experiencing a drop in research support by both the private and public sectors (Slywotzky), we have been experiencing a drop in the number of students enrolling in science, engineering, technology and math programs (Jischke). Young people are becoming increasingly disinterested in science at school and are moving away from studying science at university, making it difficult to recruit the engineers and scientists needed to support technology-based economies like ours (WillingaleTheune). That means that few new scientists are being formed, which translates into very little increase in the manpower needed to develop researches. On top of that, from the scientists we currently have more than 50 percent of the current U.S. science and engineering workforce is

2 approaching retirement (Jischke 7). So who will be left to conduct the so-much-needed researches? We need scientists; we need to find a way to inspire the young to join the field. Some high schools have changed the way science is taught in order to expose students to learning processes that resemble science discovery (Willingale-Theune 1077) and consequently enhance students scientific literacy. Not an easy task to do when sophisticated technology is used to perform those tasks in research laboratories, but schools have been using activities, like role-playing and other games, to offer some kind of hands-on experimentation and engage students in discussions on selected topics (Willingale-Theune). In order to try to attract students to the science field, different initiatives have been proposed and implemented by universities as well. Purdue and other universities have implemented programs reaching out to high school, junior high and grade school students to interest them in science and engineering. We have launched programs to increase the number of teachers in these fields and to improve our curricula (Jischke 8). In addition to that, there are other recommendations, such as awarding scholarships in return for a five-year commitment of teaching in public schools, upgrading the skills of current math and science teachers, committing to invest in long-term basic research, and so on (Jischke). Unfortunately, at those levels it might be too late to start captivating the kids, to try to show them the beauty of science and get them interested, get them to care. It is the future of the world that we are talking about, so there needs to be some degree of passion and desire to discover, to learn, to contribute to something big, to help shape the future. So when do we start? One interesting thing about human development is that the trends of development tend to repeat themselves at ascending levels of organization; as though the cycle of development took a spiral course. It is an onward spiral, but the child at a given stage may show strong

3 resemblance to what he was at an earlier stage (Gesell and Ilg 58). It sounds just like the building blocks of science itself: based on previous findings and other researches, scientists are able to develop other theories and eventually have a breakthrough. As Albert Einstein once said, If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants. That means that the earliest we start, the longer we have to build the knowledge and the higher the chance we will have for a breakthrough. However, we cannot start when we are not ready. According to Gesell and Ilg , at age three, children are more sociable, more mature from the psycho-motor standpoint, and they have attained the developmental rule of three the use of three-step logic that allows them to compare two objects, build a bridge, and barter commodities, for example. At the age of four, children are assertive and expansive, and burst with motor activity. Their high drive is associated with a mental organization which is mobile at the margins; their mental imagery is almost mercurial as it moves from one configuration to another with great agility (56). That contrasts with children of five, who have only one way to answer a question and are normally very hard to change in midstream. They are well adjusted at home, and may show spontaneous interest in reading and arithmetic they enjoy being read to, looking at books on their own and counting objects. By the age of six, they lose that rigidity as a typical six-year-old becomes more susceptible to change, either by self-motivation or external stimulation. Therefore, in the age range of 3-6 years old, children are ready to observe, compare, listen, conceptualize, form and change ideas. This should be the time that children are exposed to science and are taught its basic concepts and skills. However, it does not mean all children exposed to science early will become a scientist. It is common knowledge, though, that between the ages of three and six children are naturally curious, they want to explore the world around them and learn about everything important

4 skills of a scientist. Children are interested, they are inquisitive, they want to know, they want to discover, they are curious by nature. As Ramachandran identified, curiosity is the single most important quality in a person who may be suitable for a career in science. You need to be obsessively, passionately, almost pathologically curious in order to become a scientist (211). Not everyone is like that, but all children have talents and those talents need to be nourished, stimulated in order to flourish and develop (Rein). One of those talents could be an inclination towards science, so we should invest in it at an early stage, and we should start it at home, after all, the first teachers a child has are her parents. Gesell and Ilg state in their book that children who often enjoy playing simple letters and number games with their parents, for example, or who show any kind of spontaneous interest at home should have their interests satisfied. If those interests are satisfied, that may pay off in the future. Ramachandran, now a scientist, professor and director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, confirms that when he says that science is a love affair with nature, but it helps, too, to have parents like mine, who constantly goad you to excel and who stimulate rather than stifle your natural curiosity (211). History also shows that it should pay off not only the interested person gains in learning or discovering something new, but the whole society may profit from that knowledge and progress. In the documentary The Soul of Science, Bill Stonebarger goes through time analyzing the beginning of science. Hippocrates was the first one to practice medicine and recommend rest, exercise, herbs and healthy habits as natural ways instead of resorting to the Gods and miraculous baths to cure natural diseases. He preached the use of senses to observe and record what had been attempted and learned. Later on, Aristotle, a master scientist in ancient Greece, advocated more hands-on science. Since the beginning, curiosity drove men to wonder,

5 and testing theories has always been part of it. But it was during the Renaissance, spring again after the long winter of the medieval sleep, that brave new thinkers began to wonder about the world in a powerful new way a way which we today call science. That was the most productive period in history regarding discoveries, inventions, and theories. That period was the springboard for what we know and who we are today. Brilliant curious minds at full steam, observing, testing, predicting, creating the basis for the future we now know. How can we create the enthusiasm, the passion that led many human beings to marvelous discoveries? If we do focus on the preschoolers to instill love for science since the beginning, we will be planting a little seed that is needed for the future.

6 Works Cited Gesell, Arnold, and Frances L. Ilge. The Child from Five to Ten. New York: Harper & Row, 1946. Print. Jischke, Martin C. Science Education in the United States Reaches a Crossroad. Representative American Speeches 2006-2007. Ed. Jennifer Curry, Paul McCaffrey, and Lynn Messina. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 2007. 3-9. Print. Kingston, William. Innovation The Creative Impulse in Human Progress. Washington DC: Leonard R. Sugerman Press, 2003. Print. Lanier, Jaron. A Childhood Between Realities. Curious minds how a child becomes a scientist. Ed. John Brockman. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. 111-119. Print. Levin, Janna. A Day in the Life of a Child. Curious minds how a child becomes a scientist. Ed. John Brockman. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. 171-176. Print. Pinker, Steven. How We May Have Become What We Are. Curious minds how a child becomes a scientist. Ed. John Brockman. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. 81-89. Print. Ramachandran, V.S. The Making of a Scientist. Curious Minds how a child becomes a scientist. Ed. John Brockman. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. 211-218. Print. Rein, RaeLynne Pellinger, and Rachel Rein. How to Develop Your Child's Gifts and Talents During the Elementary Years. Los Angeles: Lowell House, 1999. Print. Slywotzky, Adrian. How Science can create millions of new jobs. Businessweek 7 Sept. 2009: 37-39. Print. The Soul of Science. Dir. Bill Stonebarger. Narr. Bill Stonebarger. DVD. Hawkhill Associates, 2002. Film. Willingale-Theune, Julia, et al. Science Education: Introducing Modern Science into Schools. Science 28 Aug. 2009: 1077-1078. Print.