Having taught more than 20 Primary and Secondary school students for the Science subject in the past year, I understand how difficult it is to get your child interested in the subject. Some students are naturally interested in the subject and these students usually score higher than 75/100. What about the students who dislike Science? Or even worse, hate it? In this article, I will be sharing 3 ways to get your child more interested in Science.
1. Answer their questions or at least, find the answers together with them.
More often than not, our interests are shaped by our environment. One interesting thing that I found out while teaching my students is that the students who initially claimed they hated the subject actually have an intrinsic curiosity for Science. Let me explain.
Kids are naturally curious about the world and would go on asking questions for hours on end. "Why is the sky blue?", "Why is the moon following us?", "Why do we dream?". These are some examples of questions that many children would ask. How have we replied to these questions? At times we just answer "There's no answer to this" or worse, "Don't ask stupid questions." Yes, these questions can be annoying especially if the child is asking them again and again. However, we should watch the way we answer them. By telling them that these questions have no answer or that they are stupid questions, we put a stop on the child's curiosity. Have you noticed that as children grow older, they ask less questions?
As an educator, I see it as my responsibility to get my students to ask as many questions as possible (sensible questions related to Science). I tell my students to prepare a list of around 10 questions every week before my lesson and we will look for the answers together during lesson. Recently, my Primary 6 student asked me "Why did the dinosaurs go extinct?" and "How big is the universe?". These are profound and deep questions that came out of a 12 year-old brain.
When your child ask these questions, remember to never put a stop to their curiosity. This is an intrinsic nature that we all share; we want to know more about the universe that we live in. What we can do when being asked these questions is to either answer them directly or look for the answer together with the child using the internet.
2. Let them watch science videos on YouTube.
Growing up, YouTube videos have taught me a lot more about Science than my teachers at school (I'm just being honest). Why do students find videos more enjoyable than lessons at school? This is because videos are usually interactive and they engage the student in a way that relates Science to real life scenarios.
To cultivate their interest in Science, we can let our children watch more Science videos on YouTube. We have to be embrace the fact that technology has replaced more traditional means of attaining knowledge such as reading books. Most students now prefer to learn from a video more than from a book.
I suggest combining tip 2 with tip 1 in order to attain the best effect. While watching the science videos, they may ask some questions. Use this time to go on a quest of answering their questions.
My recommended YouTube channels:
- Veritasium
- Vsauce
- AsapScience
- Scishow
- Action lab
3. Buy them science kits such as a mushroom grow kit.
There are plenty of gifts and toys out there that have a scientific lesson to them. For example, I recently bought my students mushroom grow kits and they loved them! Buying such gifts reinforces the importance of Science in everyday life. In the current P6 Science syllabus, students are taught that fungi such as mushrooms require 3 things to grow: Water, Oxygen and Warmth. These facts have to be memorised in their heads without much relation to real life, no wonder these students forget what they have been taught so quickly! By growing the mushroom themselves, the students learn intuitively that mushroom require only Water, Oxygen and Warmth to grow, there is no need for sunlight (which is a common misconception).
I hope that these 3 tips have provided you with some valuable insights on how to help your child become more interested in Science!