03/12/2009 Discover how to unleash the inner scientist in your child

SuchASmartMom.com

March 12, 2009  

Larry Bock is a scientist, an entrepreneur and a dad. He's also one of the lead organizers behind the San Diego Science Festival.

He hopes the five-week event, culminating April 4 with a day-long Expo with more than 300 hands-on activities, will spark an interest in science among the region's children. (A link to the festival Web site is at the end of this post.)

Mr. Bock and I had a chance to talk recently about what parents can do to spark an interest in science in their children. Here's what he had to say:

Are scientists born or created?

"I actually think all kids can be scientists because all kids are curious," Mr. Bock said. "They ask lots of questions like why and how. Those are scientific questions."

How can you encourage a child to take an interest in science?

Parents need to nurture that curiosity and love of learning. And, he said, "Kids need to know how science applies to their life."

Bock said that, unfortunately, too many kids learn science as a list of facts and figures that need to be memorized. They need to know that science is fun and requires detective work.

Are there any magazines, TV programs or Web sites that you can suggest that parents can use as learning tools?

Science News magazine is a great resource for contemporary science that is written for the masses, Mr Bock said. One year subscriptions are about $50. You can also find article online at sciencenews.org.

He also recommended the PBS programs "Nova" and "Nova Science Now." Episodes for both programs can be viewed online.

Mr. Bock also highly recommended the "Planet Earth" series on the Discovery Channel. "If you're not interested in biology after watching the ‘Planet Earth' series, you should probably be shot," Mr. Bock said, laughing.

Check your local listings for broadcast times. Series highlights and DVDs of the program are available at discovery.com.

Several Web sites got a thumbs up from Mr. Bock. (He said when his daughter has a question about her studies, he suggests typing it into a search engine and hitting the enter key. Paying attention, of course, to the source of the answer. The internet is a great tool, but not all sources are equal.)

Here are some Web sites kids Mr. Bock recommended:

Periodicvideos.com is a fantastic series of videos put together by the University of Nottingham in England.

Here's a brief explanation from the site: Tables charting the chemical elements have been around since the 19th century - but this modern version has a short video about each one.

Since launching this site, our videos have been watched more than 5.4 million times. But we're not finished yet. We've started updating all the videos with new stories, better samples and bigger experiments.

I watched a video on hydrogen that included exploding balloons with my 13-year-old son. Needless to say, it was a hit. He intends to give his science teacher the link.

Periodic Videos has a link to Test-Tube.org.uk, an award-winning website following the highs and lows of life as a scientist.

From the site: Each week we feature new videos, showing the reality of life in the lab, from the joys of discovery to the disappointment of funding rejection.

It's all here, warts and all, captured by Nottingham Science City's filmmaker in residence, Brady Haran.

My son and I watched one seven-minute video called "Burning Bananas" which showed a young scientist using banana peels to make briquettes than can be used in poor African countries in place of firewood. We found it fascinating.

Scivee.tv is a Web site launched in San Diego to allow scientists to "make your research known. This site is geared toward older students.

From the site: SciVee is changing the pace at which science is conducted and communicated. As the first Web 2.0 site that enables researchers to combine video with documentation and data in a media rich format, we enable scientists to make their research more visible, shareable, and accessible throughout the research cycle.

Using our patent pending "virtual studio" technology, scientists can easily enhance their journal articles with "pubcasts" by linking and synchronizing video explanations to their published text. Similarly, video summaries can be associated and synchronized with scientific posters to create "postercasts" highlighting the key finding of the research. We also provide easy upload and hosting of videos on topics in all areas of scientific research.

BrainPOP.com is geared toward elementary and middle school students and is normally accessible for a fee. However, the site can be accessed for free for a limited time through the KidZone on the Science Festival Web site. Additionally, BrainPOP is offering a five-day free trial and a 25 percent discount to families who purchase subscriptions through brainpop.com/go/sdsf09parents. Families will save $24.75 on 12 months of BrainPOP; $18.75 on 12 months of BrainPOP Jr.; and $37.50 on a 12-month combo subscription. The offer expires Aprirl 5th.

From the site: Founded in 1999, BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content that supports educators and engages students. Our award-winning online resources include BrainPOP, for grades 3 and up; BrainPOP Jr., for grades K-3; and BrainPOP Español. Our newest resource, BrainPOP Educators, features free tips, tools, and best practices by and for our teacher community. The annual subscription for BrainPOP is $99

You have said that you started the San Diego Science Festival because you want more children to become interested in science. Why is that so important to you?

"We're in a crisis in science," Mr. Bock said. "By the year 2010, 90 percent of the students studying advanced science and engineering in the United States will be from India and Asia."

And unlike in the not-so-distant past, he said, these university students are not staying in the United States when they are done with school. "We are in the middle of the biggest brain drain," he said. (A bit of background on Mr. Bock: He founded, co-founded or financed the early stage growth of 40 companies in the life and physical sciences. He was selected by Venture Capital Journal as one of the Ten Most Influential Venture Capitalists and the Forbes-Wolfe NanoReport as the Number One powerbroker in Nanotechnology.)

What do you hope kids get from the month-long Science Festival?

"Kids need to know that science is relevant to them," he said. "That's why we called the festival ‘The Science of You.'"

And all month long, students at schools across the county are meeting in small groups with noted scientists from the area. Among them are winners of the Nobel Prize, including Roger Y. Tsien (chemistry, 2008), Robert H. Grubbs (chemistry 2005), and Kurt Wüthrich (chemistry 2002).

Mr. Bock said kids don't have many role models in the field of science; he wants to change that. He said if you ask a child to name a famous scientist, he probably answer Albert Einstein. Ask him to name a living one, and he probably wouldn't have an answer. Ask him to name a living scientist living near him, and he'd probably be "dumbfounded," Mr. Bock said.

Finally, how can a parents get over being intimidated by science and encourage their kids to pursue careers in science?

"Find out how much these scientists are being paid," Mr. Bock said, again with laughter. "We live in a world where a lot of people are losing their jobs. We have trained too many financial engineers and not a lot of scientists and engineers."

A growth industry!

For more information on the San Diego Science Festival, go to sdsciencefestival.com. Click on the calendar on the home page for a list of events.

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