Living Science Through the Lives of Scientists

“That which has become the dominant idea of one person’s life, if it be launched suddenly at another, conveys no very great depth or weight of meaning to the second person—he wants to get at it by degrees, to see the steps by which the other has traveled.” (Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p.97)

Charlotte Mason happens to be talking about an idea of her own here, which she wants us to understand, but she knows that if she simply states her conclusions, it will have far less impact on us than if we “get at it by degrees.” The same is true for the principles of science. So then, why do we think it is acceptable to unload a bundle of scientific facts onto children and expect them to learn or simply memorize them? Is it because that is how we were taught, and therefore, we don’t know any other way? Or perhaps it is because we consider them common knowledge.

“The flowers, it is true, are not new; but the children are; and it is the fault of their elders if every new flower they come upon is not to them a Picciola, a mystery of beauty to be watched from day to day with unspeakable awe and delight.” (Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 53)

The story of science is delightful, but too often, we try to inform our students of only the last page—what we know currently, instead of letting them discover the mystery and beauty of it. The periodic table, for example, means very little to a child when he first sees it. But, let him read how Mendeleyev discovered a pattern that allowed him to organize the known elements and then predict what elements must exist but hadn’t been found yet. Then, that boring table of elements suddenly begins to represent an adventure.

“Scientific truths, said Descartes, are battles won; describe to the young the principal and most heroic of these battles; you will thus interest them in the results of science, and you will develop in them a scientific spirit by means of the enthusiasm for the conquest of truth; you will make them see the power of the reasoning which has led to discoveries in the past, and which will do so again in the future.” (M. Fouillée, quoted by Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, p. 128)

Science biographies allow children to work side-by-side, so to speak, with a scientist. They learn what it takes to be a scientist, and their respect and admiration grow as they watch these men and women sacrifice and persevere in the face of failure and rejection. In addition, a living biography draws our students in, making them feel like they are there. Imagine being present when William Harvey pinched a man’s main artery and watched his heart swell up with blood. That’s not an experiment you’ll find in 101 Experiments for Kids! They might also find it fascinating to work side-by-side with Marie Curie as she discovers and works with radium, though we now know that handling radium is unsafe. Our students will root for these scientists as they test their theories while building on their own understanding of science in the same incremental steps as science has built its understanding—one discovery leading to the next.

“Two things are incumbent upon us,––to keep ourselves and our children in touch with the great thoughts by which the world has been educated in the past, and to keep ourselves and them in the right attitude towards the great ideas of the present.” (Charlotte Mason, School Education, p. 160)

While students learn about the unifying ideas of the past, they discover that the final answer is rarely just that. Unlike the heroes of these books, our students, who are further down the road of history, can see what happened next—new discoveries made, old discoveries disproven. And by this realization, our students become more discerning regarding the discoveries of our day. Of course, today’s “facts” are not necessarily the final word either. Still, our children will not mock them, pridefully thinking they would have known better. Because they have traveled the long road with them through their reading, they understand why their hero has reached the conclusion they did. They respect the progress made, even though they know it was ultimately incorrect.

Living science biographies allow our students to travel to places and historical periods they were not meant to experience in person. They enable them to witness things they could never see otherwise and be exposed to foundational ideas in a way that we will never forget. Some students will be so caught up in the adventure that they make it their life’s work to continue the quest. Others will simply respect the men and women who do and read the day’s current events with discerning interest. Either way, science will no longer be a boring list of facts but rather something about which they care.

Here are some suggestions:

• Michael Faraday: From Errand Boy to Master Physicist by Harry Sootin
• Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
• Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Robert Cwiklik
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba (Young Reader’s Edition if desired)
• Isaac Newton by Harry Sootin
• Nikola Tesla: Giant of Electricity by Helen B. Walters
• Mendeleyev and His Periodic Table by Robin McKown
• Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks
• Robert Boyle: Founder of Modern Chemistry by Harry Sootin
• The Chemist Who Lost His Head: The Story of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier by Vivian Grey
• The Radium Woman: Life of Marie Curie by Eleanor Doorly
• George Washington Carver: The Story Of A Great American by Anne Terry White
• Galileo and the Magic Numbers by Sidney Rosen
• The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester