Most children have some level of interest in science, even if they don't realize it. Young children will marvel at roadkill and play with worms. Some students will display an intense interest in dinosaurs, volcanoes, hurricanes, robotics, or marine science. Unfortunately, many students slowly loose interest in science as they make their way through the school system. Some maintain some level of interest, but hide or suppress it because the sad reality of life in America is that science simply isn't "cool" to the vast majority of school-aged children.
However, some students' love of science will only grow and blossom as they age. Every new piece of knowledge flames the fires of their curiosity, and oftentimes these students will know from an early age that they wish to pursue a scientific career.
I was one of those students. I got straight A's all through high school, and I got a full-ride scholarship to a very small, very exclusive, very elite college specializing in a cutting-edge field of science. What happened next is something I like to refer to as my own personal version of Paradise Lost, but that's not entirely relevant to this post. What is is that I was one of those little Serious Scientists, and I'd like to share some of what my parents did to encourage and build my love of science.
Before we get started, I'd like to say that some of these strategies can be a bit of an investment and are generally only for mature, responsible, well-coordinated students who can be trusted to use high-quality instruments that can be dangerous if handled irresponsibly.
My uncle got me a high-quality dissection kit for my ninth birthday. My mother, perhaps understandably so, thought he was just a little bit mad for doing so. After all, most parents probably don't want their children fooling around with surgical equipment at the age of 9. I was throughly briefed on how to use the kit and how to avoid injuring myself while using it, and it was impressed upon me that my parents were putting a lot of responsibility in my hands by allowing me to own such an item. I was not allowed to use the kit without supervision for several years (again, perfectly reasonable) and for the most part, my methods were rudimentary and unskilled. I didn't know how much pressure to apply to cut into my first frog without rupturing most of his organs, and I hadn't yet mastered the delicate magic of removing said organs in one piece. My first rat didn't go all that well either, but my second was quite a bit better. But by the time I graduated to dissecting the roadkill squirrel I'd begged my mother to allow me to take home, I'd gotten pretty good. I'd never skinned such a large mammal before, but I ended up with a sizable piece of the pelt, both of its ears, and its tail. I then proceeded to dissect it, and I'd like to say that I conclusively proved it was run over by a blue Jeep Wrangler traveling at precisely 24 miles an hour, but I wasn't that good. However, I was able to get most of the organs out in one piece, which I counted as a win for Team Me.
Dissections, when paired with other scientific endeavors like de-fleshing and reconstructing the skeleton of an animal that died of natural causes (the library in my house is currently littered with a partial cat skeleton, a huge fish skull and most of its vertebrae, several bird skulls, and the above-mentioned squirrel parts) can help to foster a life-long love of science. I myself learned much about anatomy, biology, and organic decay through careful dissections and controlled decomposition coupled with copious amounts of research.
If you do decide to purchase a dissection kit for your child, please make sure to tell them about what is and isn't acceptable to dissect in addition to giving them a series of safety lectures. The family pet is obviously not going to end up under the blade, and healthy, live animals should never be killed for the purpose of a dissection. However, it's fine to purchase frozen rats from the local pet store (most stores carry them as food for large snakes) or frogs specifically preserved for the purposes of dissections. Animals found on the side of the road should be used with extreme caution. If they're extremely fresh and not yet rotting or covered in maggots, it's probably safe to work with them as long as you use gloves, a disposable hospital mask, and make sure to disinfect your tools before and after working with it, which is a practice you should get into anyway. A fish caught in non-protected waters is also a good choice. If your child is in high school, you might even want to look into purchasing a suckling pig preserved and sold for dissections.
A microscope is also an excellent purchase to make for a science-loving child. I'd recommend that you buy a few pre-made slides for them to look at as well as several blank slides or petri dishes so they can look at small household debris like dust, hair, sugar, salt, spices, soap flakes, sand, insects, and clothing fibres.
I'd also suggest planning a yearly trip to the planetarium, if your financial circumstances allow.
My parents also purchased a telescope for me, and I used to take it out every night during the summer to look at the moon (and Mars and Venus when they came close enough to Earth).
I also have several chemistry kits, nearly every book Carl Sagan ever wrote, as well as an indoor star projector, a DNA kit, a Starfinder, and several dozen fossils.
Obviously, not every family has the same circumstances as mine, and not every child is interested in the same fields of science. I am not in any way implying that you should replicate what my family did; I am merely suggesting that you should foster your child's love for science to the best of your ability. All of the items mentioned in this post cost money, but there are dozens of other free resources on this blog you can use instead of these or in conjunction with them.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the items mentioned in this post, please feel free to leave a comment.
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