Encourage Kids to Ask Questions and Have Fun
In this month’s Educational Leadership magazine, McREL’s Bryan Goodwin shares research that shows when students are engaged in learning and can connect it to real-world interests and goals—intrinsic and extrinsic motivation—both standardized curricula and child development needs are being served. As teachers, we can personalize curriculum standards to student interests and tap into their need for autonomy.
Even science can be fun! The This Is What A Scientist Looks Like tumblr shares pictures of scientists from all backgrounds and interests and Phil Plait—astronomer, author, educator, and the “bad astronomer” behindDiscover magazine’s Bad Astronomy blog—talks about getting kids into science and skepticism in a recent video Q&A. “Kids are natural scientists,” says Plait. “The beauty of science, one thing that students don’t always understand because they’re always busy cataloging it and looking for definitions… it’s a growing system, it’s a process. There’s always the next thing to learn.”
This week President Obama hosted the second-ever White House Science Fair, featuring research and