Tea, Tales, and Test Tubes: When School Kills Scientific Wonder

A rotten bean in a glass jar should be a brilliant science moment, right? Instead, it becomes the moment my child looks at me with worry and says, “I’m going to lose marks.” That fear is what sends me down a bigger question: when primary school science education becomes worksheets, right answers, and ticking boxes, are we accidentally teaching children to hate science and even to hate learning? The shock! The horror! 

We start with the “growing bean experiment” and pull it apart like real scientists. We talk about what happens when a classroom leaves no space for “but why?”, and how quickly curiosity gets replaced by compliance. Then we leave the doom and gloom aside and invite hope and wonder back into the equation. 

Here's why you don't want to miss this episode: 

• I get practical and provide genuinely doable activities for busy parents who do not see themselves as “science people”. 
• I share ways to make inquiry-based learning part of ordinary life using the example of the water cycle (this might blow your mind!)
• Because this is a bookish podcast, I point you in the direction of some awesome non-fiction books to get the wonderful language into your kids spongy brains (brains so ready to absorb beautiful knowledge). 
• And because I know children and I am also a busy parent, I embrace TV and other tech - from YouTube shows I love to Netflix doccies, podcasts that we can listen to endlessly, and a new-to-me website that will honestly turn on scientific thinking... simply.

If you want to raise a scientifically literate child without burning out, press play, then share this with a parent who needs hope. 

Links and other cool stuff mentioned in this episode: 

Get wonderful scientific language into your kids beautifully spongy brains by reading the best non-fiction. Not sure what the best non-fiction is? I got you: 

https://teatalesandtomes.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/episode-9-beyond-fiction-this-mums-reluctant-journey-into-the-world-of-childrens-nonfiction-books/

Season 1, Episode 9: From the Gentle Science of Baby Loves Quarks to Laugh-out-Loud Learning with Bill Bryson: Non-fiction is Fun Too

Season 1, Episode 10: Between Stories and Science: Where Non-Fiction Becomes Art

Cool ways to learn the water cycle

Dr. Binocs on Youtube. 

Jane Goodall’s Famous Last Words

The best podcast all about dinosaurs

Listen to the latest scientific discoveries but through an exciting audio cartoon format with Wow! In the World 

How about a website that does the hard work for you with all the experiments and resources well thought out? Generation Skeptics has absolutely blown my mind ever since I heard about it. Just go check it out! You will not be disappointed.

Find us on Instagram @teatalesandtomes and don't forget to join us next time for more bookish wonder. 

Podcast music by Lundstroem (Episode 1 onwards) and Audionautix (TTAT Trailer). Podcast edited by Timothy Wiggill. 

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Question

SPEAKER_00 0:00

My kid has officially started natural science as part of his curriculum this year at school. And when I first heard about it, I was so excited. While science has always been a part of our lives, from the smallest observations to full-on experiments, it has never been an official subject at school until this year. The excitement turned to wide-eyed terror very quickly. I know terror might seem like a very strong word, but it is terrifying to me to think that the school science curriculum has the ability to kill someone's natural scientific wonder and awe. Today I'm asking the question: is the school's scientific curriculum killing the love of science? And can we stem the tide? Hello, bookish friends. This is Natasha, and you're listening to Tea Tales and Homes, where we are living our favorite lives, talking books and drinking hot beverages. In celebration of the wonder of science, I'm doing a series of episodes called Tea Tales and Test Tubes, which has a decidedly scientific bend. And we are going to kick off the series with something uh very personal to me. So over the past six months or so, I have been thinking very deeply about how I counter the negative impact of a school curriculum on my child's love of learning without exhausting myself. And maybe through this episode you will also gain the insight you are seeking. Let's start at the very

The Bean Experiment Goes Wrong

SPEAKER_00 1:31

beginning. So it all began when my grade four child started doing natural science as an official subject at school. Now for years, we've been doing what we love at home: kitchen experiments, garden observations, bug rescues, volcanoes that maybe made too much mess. We read tons of science books, we visit the beach, and we dig up macrofauna, you know the drill. But formal science education in a school setting? Yes, right? Labs, specimens, proper equipment, a time for a child that loves science to truly, truly shine. I was expecting that the kids would be exposed to things that I didn't always have the time or energy to fully dive into. And then you can imagine my disappointment when it turned out that this entire thing was actually an exercise in how to hate science and worse still, how to hate learning. Now it started with a pretty standard experiment to learn about the structure of a plant and what plants need to grow. Almost every single child I spoke to and their parents were stressed out, were besides themselves about something called the growing bean experiment. Not excited, stressed about growing a bean. And whilst still, not one of them caught the science bug, not even my child. When Kai brought home his experiment, which they put together in class with their teachers, cottonwool, water, bean, etc., he wasn't curious and excited about observing the bean grow. He was anxious. And two days later, when the bean didn't germinate and a rancid, rancid odor started emanating from the glass jar, he didn't say, I wonder why. He said, I'm going to lose marks. And his normally glowing eyes looked at me with worry and with despair. And that was the moment my stomach dropped. I felt terror, actual terror well up inside me. Was this the day that my child starts hating learning and focuses more on marks? Now I'm a scientist, and here I was watching my child slowly distance himself from a subject that was literally the study of how the world works. Because it had become just another piece of homework. And I had to find out what the heck was going on. Firstly, worksheets. Lots of worksheets. Definitions, diagrams, fill in the blanks, get through the syllabus, tick the box, but very little observation, very little awe, very little oh wow, look at that. And secondly, and this one really hurt. In a room full with wildly different personalities, there was no space for the children who wanted more. No room for the kid who asks, but why? What happened? Why did my seed not germinate? No room for the one who wants to try five or ten different variables. No room for the messy, joyful chaos of real scientific inquiry. Science, in this case, had been reduced to compliance because so often life inside the classroom is about getting through the prescribed curriculum. When that bean didn't grow when the natural science textbook said it should grow, my studious young man envisioned teachers that would be disappointed or worse, angry that he didn't get the right answers.

No Failed Experiments Only Data

SPEAKER_00 4:52

So, as we sat there with the stench of rotting bean filling the room, I sat down with my highly stressed-out little man and asked him to look and observe and tell me what he could see. Reluctantly, because he was still, I'd say, 90% stressed about what his teacher was going to think, he said, a gross smell, lots of water, a change in colour of the bean and the surrounding balls, cotton balls. Then I asked him what he thinks happened that made this plant not grow. He grappled a little, so then I prompted again. I asked him what conditions the bean was kept in on the day it was planted. He remembered that it was a scorching hot day. He had after school sports and the bean stayed in my hot car for hours. I mentioned that the water level was too much and that non-aquatic plants can't survive being submerged in this way. Ultimately, it was super hot, the cotton balls had too much water, and the poor seed rotted, hence the smell, instead of germinating. And that discussion got him excited again. What did we do next? We replanted, of course, but this time we changed the conversation. We forgot about the worksheets, the full in the blanks, we forgot about the marks. We just asked, what does a seed actually need? What variables can we change to make this exciting? What might prevent germination? What would count as evidence? And most importantly, I told him something that I desperately needed him to hear. There is no such thing as a failed experiment. There is only data. If the bean doesn't grow, that's not failure, that's information. When we fill in the worksheet from school, we write down our observations on the failed growth. That's what a scientist would do. We write down our observations about the smell. We write down what the cotton bores look like, the color of the seed, the fungus. Yes, there was a fungus that started growing on the seed. So much amazing learnings happened right here. As much as it is important to know what plants need to grow, how fascinating to know what will prevent growth from happening. And on a separate page, we conducted our separate experiments. We extended it. We changed light exposure, one jar in the fridge, one jar on the windowsill in full light at room temperature, one jar in a darkened cupboard away from any light source. We kept everything else the same so that we could design an experiment that can give us real information. We observed daily after supper, and after the first day, I didn't have to remind anyone to do observations. They were excited, both the kids, even Jazz, who wasn't really doing the experiment for school. We recorded properly. It took us less than five minutes. Five minutes of recording, but both my kids would stare at wonder at the jars, completely fascinated by what was happening. The scientist in my boy was revived. The fascination came back. The wonder was rejigged. And even Keegan and I learned so much. Roots grow like nuts in the dark. While the plant in full light grew white roots and stems that was beautifully green, the one in the dark grew faster but never turned green. It was growing to reach out for light, long, strong roots going deep, long white stems seeking out the light. Just amazingly beautiful. The kids were just as amazed as we were. The seed, obviously, did not germinate in the fridge. The seed with the right amount of light and water at room temperature grew like a textbook seed germination project. We learnt about observations, we took photos, we drew illustrations. Sadly, when he tried to share the excitement of his discoveries at school, the response was all about the given worksheet and zero interest or engagement in any of the other things. For this teacher, it was unfortunately all about getting through the curriculum. And I am in no way dissing teachers. I understand that teachers are under huge pressure, under resourced, that they're not all teaching subjects that are necessarily their passion, and not all can make everything fun and exciting. I understand that teachers are human and fallible, and that as much as we want them to all be full of joy and all be Miss Honey from Matilda, that can't always be the case. But I was still sad. Even sadder, many children in that same class also now see natural science, their first exposure to this wonderful subject as a stinky failed bean experiment. They hold teachers and textbooks on a pedestal, and sometimes they just need a trusted adult to tell them that not all teachers are equal, and sometimes they have to find their own joy and understand

Why Science Wonder Fades

SPEAKER_00 9:44

that adults are wholly fallible. I think it's time for a sip of tea now that that anecdote is complete, and we shall return. I will remind myself that this is a gentle podcast. Bookish friends. We are living in a time when we need scientifically literate humans more than ever. Climate change, loss of natural habitats which sustain our entire planet, barely literate leaders, artificial intelligence that offers big claims but that consistently underdelivers, new viruses, drug-resistant bacteria, diseases that need the best medical minds, energy and food crises, and I can go on and on and on. These are not abstract concepts. They're shaping our planet, they're shaping and changing our children's futures. When I related the story above, my intention again was not to diss a teacher or even the curriculum. Yes, I am upset about how science is being taught to my child, but I understand that teachers are doing their best. And not all teachers are going to be passionate about their subjects. They're human, and I obviously need to have grace. I've never had a bad experience with any of my kids' teachers, and this first time just happens to be with a subject that really matters to me, so shucks. So then I went through the Natural Science textbook, and it is clear to me that somewhere along the line, we've mistaken assessment for education. We've confused compliance with curiosity. We've mixed up marks for understanding. Ultimately, the tragedy isn't that the bean didn't grow. The tragedy is that children are growing up thinking that science, and possibly learning as a whole, is boring. Now I believe that all of us start off as scientists. You've seen children stop to look at a snail on the ground, want to touch its body, observe its slimy trail, ask why it moves the way it does, what it eats. That, my friends, is scientific inquiry. Yet somewhere along the way, this natural curiosity and scientific way of thinking either gets diluted or becomes something that is other, something that is for other people. One minute you're a curious six-year-old, and the next science becomes a school subject. And nothing more. There are right answers, wrong answers, worksheets, marks, memorizing definitions, preparing for exams, instead of asking, I wonder why, you begin asking, will this be in the test? Curiosity is not driven by grades, it's driven by mystery. You know, I spent at least four years of my life in a marine science lab. And trust me, if you walk into a real research laboratory, you would almost never hear someone say, I already know the answer. Real scientists spend most of their time being confused. Real scientists spend more time asking questions than answering them. And then once they have some answers, they then ask better questions. They make mistakes, experiments fail, data doesn't make sense, they argue respectfully, they change their minds. Uncertainty isn't failure. It's actually the job. Yet, school science can sometimes unintentionally communicate the opposite. That science is about already knowing instead of finding out. There is actual research supporting this idea. Studies in science education consistently find that children's interest in science often declines during late primary school and adolescence, particularly when science becomes increasingly focused on memorization, high-stakes testing, and correct answers rather than inquiry and exploration. But you know what? The traditional schools are here to stay. Sometimes you get super lucky and you get a teacher that takes the most mundane subject matter from the textbook and makes it into something absolutely mind-blowing. Truly, my son has an absolutely brilliant social science teacher that makes them act out scenes from history and the kids are thriving and loving social science to the point where dinner table discussions are about apartheid and Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. I know that if they are homeschooling parents listening in, you are feeling very justified in your choice to homeschool. Trust me, I love the idea of homeschool. I love listening to my friends who homeschool their kids about what their days entail. I also know that for many people like me, especially in South Africa, homeschooling is a form of privilege. To have one parent at home, not working a 9 to 5 or more hours, to have money for extra resources and sports and cultural activities, etc., to have time to plan lessons and still ensure that children are well rounded, I think that's a form of privilege. I am hoping that when I do engage more meaningfully with homeschooling parents in South Africa, that I am proved wrong. Anyways, this episode isn't really about that. We are talking here about traditional curriculum, which is the reality for most parents all around the world. So what can we do when we have no ability to change what is happening with the school science curriculum or give your child's teacher a giant dose of science passion? You have no magic wands, you are a busy parent, you don't see yourself as being scientifically inclined, our kids are full days, and even if we are so inclined, we just don't have the time to add more homeschool after traditional school. Well, thank goodness you're here today because I got you. If you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed right now because I had my fight face on and have been filling your ears with gloom and doom, I need you to take a deep breath and go make yourself a cup of tea. When we come back, I'm going to take us back to basics and recommend so many amazing things for you to do to support your young scientist, simply and in ways that feel extremely doable.

Science Is A Way Of Thinking

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Welcome back. As I sit here, I am thinking about my close friend saying to me, Tash, sure you can do that because you're a scientist. But that's not for me. I don't want you to go into this next segment feeling like I am talking down to you, expecting you to be able to pull rabbits out of hats, become a homeschooling mama, or if you are a homeschooling parent, give you stress about more things to do. I have thought really long and hard about how to pitch this episode, and I think that you will get so much hope and rest from what I say. Let's just get into it. Firstly, here's the myth I'd love us to let go of that science is a body of knowledge. Nope. Science is a way of thinking. It is not a body of knowledge. Knowing the names of all the planets is pretty cool. It's a cool party trick, but it isn't science. Asking questions about the planets, why they orbit stars, what they're made of, where life started, or even what the names mean, that's science. Knowing the names of all the birds isn't science. It's awesome and it's fun and it will make you a hit on that school trip to the game reserve. But it's not science. Just watching birds as they go about their day, noticing plumage, watching behaviors long enough to notice patterns, that's science. Reading about volcanoes or atoms or dinosaurs isn't science. Curiosity about those and other subjects, that's science. Knowledge matters, but knowledge should feed curiosity, not replace it. Now what can parents do? And here's the hopeful part. The internet will have you believing that you need expensive kits, fancy equipment, beige decorated houses, and possibly a very picturesque farm in order to grow curious kids. Hot take, you don't need any of those things. You don't need to even become a scientist, you don't even need to know the answers. In fact, all you need to do is start with saying these words. I don't know. That's honestly the most scientific sentence you can ever say. Or how about I wonder? Hmm, I've never noticed that. Let's find out together. And hmm, tell me, what do you think? And then you find out together. Whatever the question is, whatever the nature of the inquiry is, it is in the togetherness that the real magic happens. The questions, the finding out. In this space where the curriculum is pushing assessments and right answers and us and them mentality, you are not always going to be fortunate to have those wonder adults that inspire a love of learning. So your job is simple here. Serve as that inspiration by asking those simple questions and in yourself showing that curiosity and wonder and then finding out together in ways that bring you closer. What better way to show a love of learning, a love of science than scientific discovery together? Am I right? So for me, when it came to this rotten bean experiment, this meant bringing out the jars and doing the growth experiment myself. For Keegan, my husband, it might have meant watching it on YouTube. For my mom, who has wonderfully green fingers and loves gardening, it might have meant going outside and planting something that the kids will actually end up eating or admiring as it grows. So, like with raising readers, raising scientists is not about the activity, it's about the feeling of connection and love associated with the activity with the learning. Now, like I said, different people will do things differently. So let's just take another example so that I can kind of solidify this in your thoughts. Imagine your kids are learning about the water cycle. So the school curriculum is going to ask you to learn a bunch of definitions and probably how to draw a diagram. I'm just picturing my school curriculum. When I was in school, I had to learn the definitions of evaporation, precipitation, condensation, and then draw the diagram with mountains and rivers and arrows. But how can you make this less blah and more alive? How can we make it so that kids are enjoying learning about the water cycle, which is essentially what this that sustains our entire planet, right? So, simplest way. Everyone puts out clothes to dry, right? So what about inviting your child into this with you? What happens to the water? The clothes are wet one minute, then they get onto the line, and then they dry. The water is evaporated. Now you're using the language of science. How long does it take? Is it faster on sunny days, windy days, still days? There's so much of science just happening right here with an activity that we all do. Then you bring in the words, the language of science like evaporation, the heat from the sun making clothes dry faster on hotter days, how wind can serve as a catalyst for evaporation. If you want to make it more hands-on, put some cotton balls or something similar into a Ziploc bag or simple plastic bag that's clear. Add some water to just cover them. Stick the bag to a window that gets full hot sunlight and watch evaporation in action. Take a marker or a pen and draw clouds around the water droplets that have evaporated. Draw lines to show how the rain will fall. This setup of the cotton ball soaked in water in a Ziploc bag will take you less than 10 minutes. The observation may take you a few minutes throughout the day, and your kids will remember this for a lifetime. Those big words, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, all becomes part of life, part of conversation, not part of a dead thing in a textbook. And lastly, if that's not for you, almost everyone has a phone. Just watch a show on YouTube that brings the water cycle to life. I'm gonna talk a bit more about this just now. I said earlier that we are all scientists, especially kids. So we actually have the easiest job, and that is to simply reinforce the already scientific curiosity in our children. So let's think about how we reinforce the water cycle. On a rainy day, talk about the clouds beforehand. Use words like evaporation and condensation in everyday conversation when describing things. If you're taking a walk in the mountains, talk about how most rivers start in mountaintops. If you have a river nearby or somewhere in your city and you see it on a drive or a walk, talk about how rivers are part of the water cycle, how the ocean is part of the water cycle, how evaporation from large bodies of water is what makes it rain. Science is not something that just exists on paper in a textbook. It's not something that only exists in a laboratory or in a classroom. Science is literally all around us. And these little things is how we can reinforce our children's love of science, just going about our daily lives. I also sometimes like to just add even more wonder so that when my kid is going to sleep at night, they're going, ah, that's a very interesting thought. Like, for example, when it came to the water cycle, I love to share that all the water that has ever existed on our planet was created at the time of the Big Bang, that the water that we are drinking today was around at the time of the dinosaurs, and that the cycle means that it is continuous. And if you're thinking, oh gosh, but you know, you know this, where did you pick these facts up? Listen, if I'm on the toilet, I could very, very easily just quickly Google, give me five wonderful facts about water. And there I have it. We are part of natural science because we are part of nature. And creating scientists is all about asking questions, observing our surroundings, and finding out the answers. It's never about having all the answers. So that's kind of number one, how we include scientific inquiry and scientific language into all parts of our life. How we take the

Water Cycle Learning In Real Life

SPEAKER_00 23:52

boring stuff off the textbook and see how we can apply it to our everyday life. And number two, now this is a bookish podcast, so I will be very remiss if I do not tell you that books and reading is always the answer, not worksheets, and certainly not drool science textbooks. I've spoken a little bit about the language of science already. And the easier way to have this gorgeous language wash over children is for this to be read aloud to them or for them to read it themselves in books. Now, I personally have never been a big fan of nonfiction until my littlest book dragon, Jaspal, would literally only bring nonfiction books home from any library he visited and would also gravitate to the nonfiction book box sets that I had at home. So this passion of his, ever since he was around three years old, led me to find the creme de la creme of science books. Not necessarily because I wanted him to have the best of books, obviously I did, but because I knew that I was going to have to be the one that read these to him. So I needed to find books that were equally fascinating and enjoyable to me. So I've actually ended up sharing this on the podcast. I did two episodes on nonfiction that will even get the most reluctant scientists interested. So these episodes are both from season one of Details and Tomes. The first one is episode nine, and it's called From the Gentle Science of Baby Love's Quarks to Laugh Out Loud Learning with Will Bryson. Nonfiction is fun too. So this episode is basically my eye-opening journey into the world of high-quality nonfiction for young readers. From infants all the way to teens, that will make even the most reluctant nonfiction reader, which is what I was, into a serious nonfiction enthusiast. So there's a lot of nonfiction twaddle on bookshop and library shelves. I constantly see this. And this episode is a guide in how to strike that balance between educational content and genuine reading pleasure. How do you distinguish exceptional titles from the forgettable ones? So episode 10 is similar, but here and this episode is called Between Stories and Science, where nonfiction becomes art. I really delve deep into the world of children's nonfiction and share remarkable books that transform factual information into awe-inspiring adventures for readers both young and old. The best part is that I go even further into tips and tricks in how you can choose high-quality nonfiction that engages rather than bores young readers and their book dragon adults. So because Jazz has never stopped his nonfiction bus and Kai also likes a little nonfiction before bedtime, his go-to is actually Bill Bryson's newly illustrated and adapted books for kids. I'm always on the lookout for great nonfiction. So this week I'm actually showcasing even more amazing science fiction and nonfiction that has blown our minds and even interviewing the author of one particularly great middle grade nonfiction that has just launched. This is so good, you do not want to miss this. It's all coming this week as we transform from tea tales and tomes to tea tales and test tubes. Before I move off books, I just want to say that when I recommend a book on this show, it is something that I have read and that the kids have read and that we have genuinely loved. For every a hundred or so books to read, I'm only sharing the cream of the crop because my aim here is to reduce the overwhelm associated with raising readers and raising scientists. No ads, no PR, no lists from publishers. If, however, I don't mention a book and you think I should, please let me know because again, maybe I just haven't heard of it. Maybe it hasn't come across my radar, maybe it's not accessible to me at this time. At Tea Tales and Tomes, every book that is mentioned is read, reread, and genuinely loved. So let's leave books for a moment and go to the third way to encourage our children's natural scientific minds without feeling overburdened ourselves. Number three, use the science created by others in the formats that work for your children. So I'm gonna give you a few really great recommendations for things to listen to or to watch that have really saved me when I just wanted to let the science happen without participating much or even at all. Again, I'm certain that there are tons of stuff out there that is truly amazing. But I'm only gonna share what I have used, what I've watched, what we've listened to as a family, and only again the ones that we have truly enjoyed. So let's start with for little scientists of all ages. Now there's a show on YouTube that I discovered about six or seven years ago and it's still going pretty strong. It's called Dr. Binox, and I will link to it in the show notes so you don't need to take down any notes. It's essentially sorry, I'm just laughing because Dr. Binox is hilarious. So he is, Dr. Binox is essentially a brain, an animated brain, and he and his cat friend ask and answer questions like what would happen if you fell into Niagara Falls, or how do braces actually work? Or what if oxygen doubled on earth? Or why do mosquitoes bite some people more than others? And in five or six minutes, through amazing animations and totally accessible science, you get all the answers in a fun and hilarious way. The questions instantly grab kids. And Dr. Binox is brilliant if your kids are having a snack at the table and want a quick and interesting video that will really get them thinking. It's really fun, and the science is really true, and the science is really good. And I know that they are getting in some really great scientific language into their beautiful spongy brains. One for all ages, and especially if you have a child that loves dinosaurs, paleontology, and other cool science stuff, you have to listen to the

Nonfiction Books That Hook Kids

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podcast called Dinosaur George for Kids. So moving off YouTube and onto a podcast. Not this one, even though this is a really great one to listen to. So the one I'm mentioning now is actually a podcast that is again for all ages, but especially if you have a child that loves dinosaurs, paleontology, and other cool science stuff. You simply have to listen to Dinosaur George Kids. Seriously, it's a must. Like, put T Tales and Tomes off right now and go onto your podcast app and subscribe to Dinosaur George Kids if you have a child that loves dinosaurs. The host, Dinosaur George, is an actual paleontologist and is able to take this massive body of research available on paleontology and make it so easy that even the littlest listeners will understand. It's not wishy-washy, which is really important for me. Dinosaur George has such an extremely solid scientific background. And like I just said, he can go so deep into the science, but in ways that kids grasp, that kids understand. Jazz, who was five years old when we when we first started listening to Dinosaur George, grasped really difficult concepts like how scientists have used pigments from the fossil record to know what colours certain dinosaurs might have been. And Dinosaur George is not afraid to use the language of science in his explanations. He's not in the business of talking down to kids. The thing I really love about Dinosaur George is that he also teaches about good manners and courtesy and anti-bullying. And I honestly think that that's sometimes lacking from certain shows. The episodes are quite long, they're 45 minutes and above, but it's really great for long car trips or listening while kids are building Lego or playing with their toy dinosaurs. The most fun segment, the stuff that my kids absolutely love, is the segment called Who Will Win, in which children can message and ask Dinosaur George to put dinosaurs against each other, and he will then engage in this epic dino battle and decide who wins based on actual science. Things like morphology, how they looked, how they moved, their potential speeds, their preferred prey, the habitats that they're suited to, so much learning, but in the most fun way. I mean, kids love battles, right? The next one is might actually be for slightly older kids, I'd say five and above, and it's actually a baking show. Now, who doesn't love a good baking show, right? Baking is an amazing science. It's all about transforming a bunch of things that are usually not that tasty on their own into something that is super yummy using catalysts like heat or baking powder. But what if you could make a baking show and intricately and very obviously weave in real STEM concepts as part of the challenge? Well, Netflix has done that in a show called Baking Impossible. Now, in this baking competition, teams consist of one baker and one engineer. There's MIT and NASA scientists, etc., and they have to bake delicious edible cakes and other pastry type things. They also have to create these bakes that survive various engineering stress tests, like making a fully edible ship that also floats, using simple machines like edible levers and pulleys and cranks and gears to make chain reactions, creating edible fashion that can light up, that people can actually wear and model. My kids love, adore, can watch Making Impossible over and over again. They've watched it so many times, and so have I. It's it never ever disappoints. And through the show, they've also taken a massive, massive interest in simple machines, how they work, and they want to create their own chain reactions. They also learn about teamwork, managing disappointment, and all sorts of good things. Also, I love a good baking show. The next one that I'm going to recommend is such a goody. It's also on Netflix. It is a show that is based on a book, and Barack and Michelle Obama are actually the executive producers of the animation. It's Ada Twist Scientist, which is based on the book of the same name. So in this animated cartoon, Ada is a young girl who solves all sorts of everyday dilemmas using the scientific method. Her friend Iggy Peck, an architect, and Rosie Revere, an engineer, also bring in their own Steam components. The language of science, engineering, and art is interspersed throughout this cartoon, and my kids love it, and so do I. Okay, my

Science Shows Podcasts And Resources

SPEAKER_00 34:30

next recommendation is a bit of an odd one out. Have you heard of the show called Famous Last Words? So the show consists of an interview with a famous or notable person, and the thing about Famous Last Words, the unique thing, is that it's only published after their death, allowing the interviewee to tell their message after they have died. So my son was doing a school project on Jane Goodall, and we decided to sit down and watch Jane's interview, Jane's Famous Last Words. And I cannot recommend enough how much I think you should sit down with your children and do the same. Jane Goodall speaks candidly about how her love of nature started. She talks about the wonder of just observing life and what we're losing in this age of fast information. She speaks about conservation of love, death, and of God. So Jane Goodall passed on obviously quite recently before the interview was actually published. It's just so wonderful, it's so goosebump inducing, and it will surely ignite a passion for science and this wonderful planet deeply in anyone that watches it. She also gets to be a little cheeky as well in the interview because she knows that it'll only be aired after she has passed away, and she takes some subtle shots at some world leaders that have no rights calling themselves leaders. After the interview, we we just sat there as a family for some time and quietly took it all in. My children then went back to the Jane Goodall books that we had and started seeing her with brand new eyes. She went from being this character in books, someone that was kind of other, a scientist that was they were reading about and researching, to being a whole full human who they felt that they knew and they really wanted to emulate. So I think that's this one particular interview, one particular documentary is so, so great to watch with your children. So I'm gonna just lastly do two more podcasts that I feel really get those science brains working over time. The first one is Wow in the World, and it is a performance-based podcast that shares news from science, technology, and new discoveries that's happening in the world all around us. So I say performance-based because the format of the show is almost like uh a cartoon that we listen to, right? It's filled with laughter, adventure, and references to actually published peer-reviewed literature from the best journals like Nature and Science. This is a show that is bound to inspire wonder, to fuel imaginations, and make science something that the whole family can listen to. Something a little less fast-paced and less stimulating is sleeptight science. Now, this is a show that I play for the kids when they're in bed and don't feel like reading or anything like that. So in Sleep Tight Science, science questions are posed and answered through using gentle and a lulling soft music and calming tones, a really lulling voice. So my kids fall asleep before an episode is over. That just happens always. In fact, I do too. If I'm listening to the episode with them, I seldom can make it to the end of the episode because the narrator, the person performing the show, is so calming. But I don't mind being lulled to sleep using science language and story, right? I did say lastly, but having just interviewed best-selling author Elizabeth Shreve and just having my mind blown by her work and the work of some of the people that she has collaborated with, I have to direct your attention to a website called Generation Skeptics. Now, Generation Skeptics is run by the Center of Inquiry, which was founded by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov and colleagues. Generation Skeptics is all about helping parents, teachers, and children become media literate. The site offers free, wonderful resources, learning plans, brilliant information, all about teaching about misinformation, healthy skepticism, and fake news. How important is that in this time that we are living in? There is nothing dry or droll about the teaching resources. And this is just one website that I really would love for you to check out with your kids. With the rise of artificial intelligence and deep fakes, this is something that every human needs, not just our kids. We all should engage with the content that is on Generation Skeptics website. How can we distinguish fact from fiction? The science on the site is amazing, and the experiments are bound to get kids passionate about the scientific method. Generation Skeptics, so I'm gonna link to it. Another thing that I haven't really mentioned here is entire documentaries and all the wonderful national geographic content that's available. I didn't because you honestly know about all of these already. Watch them, they're so great. My kids personally, their favorites are Life on Earth. They love those documentaries inside the mind of a cat, inside the mind of a dog. And they use it in everyday life. They have these conversations with each other and with our cats and with other animals. It's so fascinating. They also are very much into predators, so they really love watching all the nachio shows about predators. You can find your kids' niche interests, and you will then know what to expose them to. Young scientists can be nurtured in so many ways that are so super easy.

Closing And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_00 39:47

And that, my bookish friends and scientists, this brings us to the end of the show. I hope that you're going to join us as we continue to explore this intersection between books and science. Join us next time for more details and test tubes.