Give children time to pursue, learn science

Parental support, more self-direction and fewer gadgets go a long way

Having lived during the Trinity test — I was two years old — and, later as a young man in California, privileged to work on Project Apollo, and eventually as an experimentalist in a New Mexico premier national laboratory, I became familiar with the dedication and patience required to effectively perform the often tedious very much hands-on experiments required in the laboratory environment.

I attribute much of my success to my parents who had the good sense to allow me the unstructured time to find my calling early in life. There was no 24-7 frantic hauling me around to endless activities until I dropped into bed each night exhausted and multi-tasked beyond reason.

If you want a good description of an effective, creative and happy scientist, think self-control, single-task oriented, daring, yet objective. These characteristics won’t arise in the minds of our children while riding in the back seat of a vehicle headed to yet another soccer game, after school activity or other over-scheduled event.

Several years ago, I was privileged to be a judge at the 2007 International Science and Engineering Fair held here in Albuquerque. I was assigned to evaluate 13 young men and women during the three-day conference.

At some point during each of my interviews with these brilliant young people, I asked them what influence their parents played in their admirable levels of science prowess. Every one of these young people credited their parents with allowing them the freedom of self-expression, time and control to engage in pursuit of their science interests.

I contend there are lots of opportunities for children to learn science, providing these children have parents who feel this endeavor is important.

If you doubt this, just enter the phrase “science experiments for children” into your favorite Web browser. Years-worth of interesting and educational science experiments will appear on your monitor just asking to be tried.

If we want children to learn science, we need to encourage them to fill their hands with more tools and less texting-gadgets, their days with more selfdirection and less frenetic activity, and their minds with more possibilities and less scheduling.

Science, either theoretical or experimental, is just as fun and gratifying as in the past, but it belongs to those who are daring and dedicated enough to participate.