Podcasts Education Lab Out Loud Episode 11 - Death of the Chemistry Sets

Episode 11 - Death of the Chemistry Sets

Published: March 3, 2008, 5:22 a.m.

This week we talk with Steve Silberman, contributing editor for Wired Magazine. Steve talks to us about the demise of the chemistry set \xa0(as related to his article Don't Try this at Home) and what that might mean for the future of scientific curiosity in our children.
\n
\nPreview from the Show:
\nIn the last few years, a kind of perfect\nstorm of concerns and legislation has arisen that has had the unintended effect of discouraging amateur chemistry.
\n
\nKids\nreally want to fall in love with science. \xa0And I know how much the\nteachers really want to\xa0communicate their own enthusiasm about science\nto their kids. \xa0But with fears of liability, and these restrictive\nlaws, and just a kind of general paranoia, instead what's being\ntransmitted to kids is some kind of combination of boredom and fear.
\n
\nI\nwould say that one of the reasons that I became a science writer was\nthat I had a well stocked chemistry set when I was in elementary\nschool, that contained many things that I am sure are now illegal.
\n
\nIf\nwe're cutting off the possibility of future generations of being\ninterested in science - at the same time that the performance of\nAmerican kids in science starts to go down around 12th grade, the\nnumber of science and technology related jobs in the world are going\ncontinually up - so we're creating a gap here where we need people in\nscience and technology, but we're no longer giving them the access to\nthe things that could help them become interested in the subject.
\n
\nLinks:
\n