Science from the mouths and minds of babes

By Jason Major

TechNyou

Science from the mouths and minds of babes

Only the following comments and insight could come from children. Innocence, curiosity, and doubtless other traits that a psychologist will be able to explain seems to allow this freedom of expression and they can get away it because we say “they don’t understand”. Sometimes I wonder?

In my time as a science communicator, from personal experience with students and my collaboration with colleagues, I am continually amazed at how kids process information and then either ask a serious question or come out with an honest quip that has you rolling on the floor laughing, or should that be ROTFL?

So here is a short list of those experiences, most are actually from my friends at CSIRO Education:

A CSIRO education girl is explaining movement by sitting on a skateboard and pushing herself along with her feet – apparently an occasion not to wear hipster jeans. The demonstration led one observant Grade 4 girl to announce, “That’s a G-string (poking up from the now extra low slung hipster jeans). My dad’s got one of those.” Ah, so it has nothing to do with the science, but it was at a holiday event and loads of parents were there and heard this, so I was ROTFL

CSIRO Ed’s chemistry session. During a discussion about the nature of chemical reactions, a Grade 5 boy asked, “Is it a chemical reaction when you have liposuction and they suck the fat out and then heat it?”

We sometimes underestimate children’s knowledge, in this case on states of matter (liquid, solid, gas – and plasma if you want to be technical). Note, this kid was in preps – ie about 4 years old. When asked to give an example of a gas this preppy declared confidently, “a fart”.

CSIRO Education often get their classes to guess what the acronym CSIRO stands for. Apparently the O stumps them most. A presenter gave them a clue suggesting, “Think of a word that means a bunch of scientists working together.” Several children simultaneously answered, “Obstacle”. (Personally, I think this is GOLD.)

In an explanation about how some chemical reactions go backwards (are reversible) and some don’t (non-reversible), a grade 1 student pointed out that if you watch the reaction on TV you can rewind it. Another Grade 1 student after being warned not to eat anything in a chemistry lab added, “Even if your reaction makes wine, you can’t drink it.”

I would cherish people’s similar experiences with children. Who knows, we could turn it into an Airport bestseller, or maybe not. If nothing else we can get a laugh.

Many thanks to my CSIRO and other colleagues. I stumbled across the above collection during a cleanout so some of these colleagues have moved on, but thank you anyway.