There’s an old adage some attribute to Benjamin Franklin: “Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I understand.” Whether this quote in its various forms actually originated with good ol’ Ben is debatable. But he certainly modeled a style of learning that is woefully neglected nowadays: inquiry-based learning. Benjamin Franklin made observations, asked questions about his observations, and sought out reasonable answers and solutions. This inquiry-based approach to learning was key to his scientific discoveries and innovations.
When we teach science nowadays, we often avoid this approach because it takes up so much time. It’s much more efficient to simply explain a scientific concept and then provide an experiment to illustrate. Unfortunately, this method doesn’t always force children to deeply contemplate a problem or concept. As the quote states, you are “telling” and “showing” them, but not “involving” them. Involving them means they have to observe, question, and ponder possible solutions. We avoid this approach since it can take up half a day sometimes! What about completing all of the other school subjects, not to mention all the chores!? I assure you, I feel your pain. But if we really want our children to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, we’ve got to make time for at least some inquiry-based learning. And science is the perfect venue.
Some parents find it painfully difficult to work scientific experiments into their homeschooling schedules. Reading the science textbook three or four days a week is one thing. But making time for experiments? Forget it! Might I suggest you completely rethink your science curriculum at least during the elementary years. What if, instead of reading the textbook four days a week, you instead dedicate a chunk of time once a week to do an experiment using the inquiry-based approach to learning?
TOPScience provides curriculum that “helps kids everywhere do hands-on science with simple things.” By doing one “task” each week (with an extra task thrown in here and there) you could work through one booklet per semester. Each booklet comes with explanations and answers for the teacher, but students are encouraged to work as independently as possible.
If students and parents are impatient or detest spending time thinking through problems and troubleshooting, they will no doubt find the process irritating or even infuriating. I’m not suggesting this curriculum is perfect for everyone. But I do think it is worth its weight in gold for those who are willing to patiently inquire their way through each task and build knowledge and understanding as they go.
So far, my favorite booklet has been Electricity #32. I’ve always enjoyed and excelled in science. But despite my years of science study, electricity never made a whole lot of sense until I went through this booklet with my son. For heaven’s sake, we were MacGyvering circuits, switches, and fuses using clothes pins, aluminum foil, pennies, rubber bands and steel wool! And yes, there was a lot of trouble shooting involved unlike the easier but less enlightening Snap Circuit kits.
Check out samples of their booklets on the TOPScience website and decide if you want to try this approach to learning science with your children!