Kids use real tools in PreK Science class that empowers kids with accelerated growth in STEM education

Whether we’re opening the refrigerator door or closing the screen of our laptop, hinges are all around us helping our world move! By investigating real objects like the small metal devices in a doorframe that help it to swing open, or the plastic lids on top of the maple syrup bottle that keep the syrup from spilling out, this week our scientists are observing that a hinge is simply something that connects two objects to help them rotate.

• Kids are building real-world connections that even parts of our bodies, like our knees and our elbows, are also hinges, helping us to do things like run fast or swing a tennis racket!

• Through creating hinges from different materials, like bendy straws and popsicle sticks, kids are discovering how the design of a hinge can affect its range of motion.

Science must go well beyond our museums and classrooms, to give kids enough opportunities to build critical thinking skills in the U.S.

We often think of science in terms of museums, a lab table with a boring experiment, a chemical reaction, or an equation we had to memorize. While these things fit the definition, at Kids Science Labs the way we think about hands-on science is “A perspective to approach the world”. We are all scientists because we are all interested in learning.  From designing a house, to running faster, getting rid of that nasty cold, figuring out why the light bulb keeps blowing out, or trying to win a court case - we are all searching to know more. This is especially true in young kids and exactly what makes hands-on science a key feature of every kids' life. Why does the juice spill, why is the car so noisy, why can't I jump off the couch...they want to know and their natural curiosity is best met with doing real hands-on science.

The fact is that we love seeing innovative solutions to basic problems. We are often struck by creativity when someone makes an observation or develops a product that it striking in its simplicity, beautiful in its ability to solve a key problem, and makes us go “why didn’t someone think of that before, it was so obvious?”.  

Kids Science Labs has provided over $100,000 in scholarships to students enrolled in its STEM programs

It all started in Chicago in 2010 when two dads, friends, and avid problem solvers, Shegan Campbell and Keith Norsym, decided that instead of trying to find a great idea, they wanted to identify a problem that they were passionate about, and fix it. One Saturday afternoon at Panera Bread a few years ago, they asked....

"Why is it that all kids love science until about the 5th grade and then for the rest of their school years treat science as if it were boring, too difficult, or only for nerds?  And why is it that in the U.S. we don't actively teach kids how to design, create, build, and fully explore the science that they are curious about? Kids love science, so why do so few have an opportunity to explore it. Isn't science fun, mysterious, and engaging...?" The result was the creation of Kids Science Labs, the best program for engaging kids 2-12 in innovation, creativity, and design.  

We want children everywhere to experience Kids Science Labs and we are working hard to make that a reality

Lacking imagination can prevent high-level problem solving and hinder future career progression

We often confuse problem solving for knowing how to solve a problem. This is so ridiculously simple. There are more problems for which you don't know the answer but can still figure out, with a bit of imagination and creativity, than problems that you could actually know the answer to already. I have been leading kids in developing new ways of thinking at Kids Science Labs for a decade, and the overwhelming evidence (not to mention the academic research) is that kids under 6, before they finish Kindergarten, have far greater problem solving ability than adults. The science is pretty simple. Adults lack (or at least choose not to exercise) their imagination, whereas imagination is one of the primary ways in which kids in early childhood solve a problem. Try it yourself. Ask a kid how to get to the moon, or where dragons live, and they will give you an answer. A real plausible answer, except that when you hear it as an adult, you can reject that solution because you think its simply not possible. You lack imagination.