Why Is Science Important for Kids?

Science education from kindergarten through high school is important both because there are certain bodies of knowledge that must be acquired and because the habit of self-critical inquiry should be encouraged.

Expert Insight

• Carl Sagan is often quoted thus: "There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right." The willingness to be wrong, and so the willingness to be proven wrong, are at the heart of good science education.

Common Sense

• Such an education can help a child challenge "common sense." As Joan Freeman, of Middlesex University, observed, a child from one family may regard it as obvious that success in life results from hard work. Another, from a different background, may regard it as equally obvious that success is all luck. If they come to think critically, they may understand that both, and other factors as well, are involved, and that the mix of elements involved in success in any specific social context is a difficult but empirical question.

History

• In the U.S., science education came to be seen as a national security imperative after the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite in 1957.