I was invited by a friend recently to hold an astronomy night for some kids. Now, I've never been known as a creative person, so where education types and elder sisters would be going nuts with tubes of glitter and marshmallows, I draw a blank. I know the things that make me excited about space, but the idea of that row of prematurely-jaded faces gives me the heebie-jeebies. I didn't understand those kids when I was their age; I understand them even less now.
So, I think about how I was when I was a pre-teen. The thing I wanted most was to have my intellect be considered the equal of any adult's. Just because I was in a pint-sized body, I reasoned, didn't mean that I couldn't grasp the concepts of quantum entanglement or multiple dimensions. One memory is particularly distinct. I was sitting on my bed, surrounded by my intro-level astronomy books. They were basically glorified picture-books, all bright colours and little text. I had a sheet of paper, with childish scrawling trying to piece together bits on black holes from each book. I was so frustrated. How could these authors introduce topics like singularities, and then just move on without explaining how they work, what we've seen, what we've calculated? It would be like killing Scheherazade on the 50th night. What's the point?
The bottom line is simple: children aren't stupid, they are untaught. A plethora of studies have shown that in so many topics, kids command flexibility and insight of mind that adults spend the rest of their lives trying to recreate. If anyone should be being fed our most complicated problems, it should be them. They have curiosity, intelligence, and imagination, and are unfettered by preconceptions about the so-called "laws" of the Universe.
So what am I going to tell these kids? I'm going to think of the "big concepts" that are supposed to be too much for their minds, and explain as much information as I can about them. I'm going to respect their brains, treat them as capable thinkers instead of cutesy factoid ingesters. Then I'm going to let them talk about it, stew in it, come up with solutions I bet would widen the eyes of any physicist. If we want to rehabilitate our nation's science education, this is how we need to start.
Everything and anything can be sponged up in children's minds. This is something education and apprenticeships, etc. forget ALL the time. It is a known fact that the younger you are taught something, the more it sticks and the more you want to learn. This is why teaching kids early is so important. If you want them to learn a language, learn an instrument, learn how to sing, knit/crochet, learn a science,...teach it to them when they are young. Kids are always looking for something to do. They are filled with curiosity and creativity. I loved Science Museums because it was all completely hands-on. I learned how to knit in high school and it has stuck with me. It is the only way for information to be caught and stored correctly. Start them young and they will become more curious and absorb all the information they can grab because it is all at their fingertips if they only look and know about it.
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