Science classes of this type treat education as if it were preparation for a quiz show or a game of trivial pursuit. This view of science education has many problems. Most students are not interested in being quiz show participants. They fail to see how this type of knowledge will be useful to them in the future. Most important, this kind of teaching misses a tremendous opportunity to give all students the problem-solving, communication, and thinking skills that they will need to be effective workers and citizens in the 21st century.
Most young children are naturally curious.
But if adults dismiss their incessant questions as silly and uninteresting, students can lose this gift of curiosity. Visit any second-grade classroom and you will generally find a class bursting with energy and excitement, where children are eager to make new observations and try to figure things out. The National Science Education Standards released by the National Research Council in 1995 provide valuable insights into the ways that teachers might sustain the curiosity of students and help them develop the sets of abilities associated with scientific inquiry. The Standards emphasize that science education needs to give students three kinds of scientific skills and understandings. Students need to learn the principles and concepts of science, acquire the reasoning and procedural skills of scientists, and understand the nature of science as a particular form of human endeavor.