“问题不在孩子身上,他们是天生的科学家。问题在大人身上。他们扼杀了孩子们的好奇心。”
Neil deGrasse Tyson
孩子们都有一种与生俱来的探索精神和好奇心,理解客观世界的内在欲望驱动着他们去探究世界。
Neil deGrasse Tyson是世界著名天文物理学家、作家,也是一名推广天文学的科学传播者。
在这个演讲中,他分享了如何更好地培养孩子的科学素养。
以下是演讲文字整理版:
Kids are born scientists. They’re always turning over rocks and plucking petals off of flowers. They’re always doing things that by and large are destructive.
孩子是天生的科学家。他们不是在翻石头就是在摘花瓣。基本上,他们总在做一些具有“破坏性”的事。
That’s what exploration kind of is. If you take stuff apart, whether or not you know how to put it back together. This is what kids do.
但这就是探索的意义所在。不管知不知道怎么再把它们重新组装起来,就把东西拆得七零八落。孩子们就是这样。
An adult scientist is a kid who never grew up. That’s what an adult scientist does.
一个成年的科学家就是一个从未长大的孩子。成年科学家做的也就是这样的事。
What happens at home, is the kid reaches in the refrigerator, pulls out an egg and starts juggling it.
在家里常常发生这样的事,孩子从冰箱里拿出了一个鸡蛋,并开始玩了起来。
What’s the first thing you do as a parent? Stop playing with the egg. It could break. Put it back.
作为父母,你的第一反应是什么呢?
“别再玩鸡蛋了,放回去,它会坏掉的。”
Excuse me. This is an experiment in the material strength of. Let the kid find out that when it drops, it breaks.
This is a physics experiment rapidly turned into a biology experiment, okay. The yolk ooses out.
不好意思,这个实验是为了让孩子发现,它掉下来时会碎掉的。
这是一个物理实验。又迅速变为一个生物实验,不是吗?
You say, hey, that becomes a chickie one day, okay? Wait.
How does this gooey yolk become a chicken? Well, that’s biology.
Check that out. And what did the egg cost you? 20 cents?
蛋黄流出来时,你会说,嘿,在某一天,这会变成一只小鸡的,好吗?
等等,这个粘糊糊的蛋黄怎么会变成小鸡? 那是生物学。
你再想想, 你买这个鸡蛋花了多少钱呢? 20美分?
The president of Harvard once said, if you think education is expensive, you should try the cost of ignorance.
哈佛大学的校长曾说,如果你觉得教育是昂贵的,那么你就该尝一下无知的代价。
So, we don’t have enough parents who understand or know how to value the inquisitive nature of their own kids because they want to keep order in their household.
大多数父母都不能足够理解、不够懂得如何保护孩子的好奇心,他们考虑的仅仅是怎么保持家里的整洁。
Kids go into the kitchen and pull out all the pots and pans, and start banging on them.
What’s the first thing you say as a parent?
Stop making all that noise. Stop the racket. You’re getting the pots and pans dirty.
孩子们到厨房里,把所有的锅碗瓢盆都拿出来,并“演奏”了起来。
作为父母,你的第一反应是什么呢?
“别再制造噪音了”
“别吵了,你把这些餐具都弄脏了”
You just squashed an entire experiment in acoustics.
这样做你就是毁了一个声学实验。
So, I’m not worried about kids.
所以我认为问题不在孩子身上。
People say, what can I do to get my kids interested in science. They’re already interested in science. You’re the one who’s the problem.
人们会问道,我该怎么做,孩子才能对科学感兴趣呢?
事实上,孩子们对科学天生就有兴趣。
而你恰恰才是问题所在。
Almost my entire professional energy is focused on adults because they out number kids.
They vote. They run the world. They wield opportunities.
Kids will be fine.
在我的职业生涯里,我更关注大人在这个过程中的作用。大人的数量远远超过孩子。
他们有投票权,主宰着世界,掌控着各种机会。
大人理解了,孩子们将会成长得更好。
转自《李开复》