GLOBE EDITORIAL

Starting early in science

December 26, 2006

GRADE SCHOOL science could be a rocket with roaring engines that's ready to carry children into a high-powered new era of education. If only someone would say blast off.

Instead, K-8 science is stuck in neutral, idling while the country grows hungrier for new generations of scientists and engineers.

"All young children have the intellectual capability to learn science," says a new report, "Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8," published by the National Academies, a nonprofit organization that advises the federal government and the nation on science.

It's the adults who are falling down on the job, "as educators we are underestimating what young children are capable of. . . the bar is almost always set too low," it reads.

It's an invitation to increase the quality of public knowledge by starting in schools.

Full article here:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/12/26/starting_early_in_science/