I am always on the look out for great ways to get my kids involved in certain aspects of education and in order to help prepare them for higher education. In recent years that focus has been on the sciences. Getting my kids to love science as much as me has not been easy, but after much work, we are just about getting there. I use a lot of online resources when it comes to inspiring my children, things like YouTube videos, governmental websites as well as inspiring sites such as the Jay Eitner blog. The inspirational superintendent of the Waterford Township School District, Mr Eitner resonates greatly with me as he is a New Jersey resident like myself, who has been an important part of the New Jersey education system. The federal government are trying to inspire more girls and boys to get into the sciences, and here is how I try to support that with my kids.
Science at Home
If science is what is one the menu at home, it is important that you work on small projects with your kids, which will act as a great way to teach them about sciences. For example if you have an aquarium with some tropical fish in it, the kids can use this to learn about the lives of fish, the mechanisms behind the oceans and how various eco-systems are created. Equally you could bake with your child and talk to them about the chemistry behind how bread rises, or how things harden when they burn, putting science firmly on the main menu. The key is not to overload your child with the details and theory just yet, but to show them that all science is relatable to everything that we do.
Stimulating Interest
You should be actively trying to play games and start projects with your child as early as possible. This could be as simple as giving them a magnifying glass and taking them out to the garden to look for insects, or even as complex as building a bottle rocket or an erupting volcano. Activities like this will really wow your children and therefore serve to get them more inspired when it comes to the world of science around them.
Applications
If your kids are anything like mine, they will be glued to tablets and mobile phones for long periods of the day. Instead of limiting their time on these devices, utilise them as instruments for learning. Work with your children on watching YouTube videos with science experiments, download a wide number of apps which your kids can use to both learn, and test their knowledge. A child just needs a spark to inspire them to learn more about a particular subject and through the use of computers and mobile devices, you can do exactly that with the sciences.
Employ these 3 strategies and your kids will be science lovers in no time at all.
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