I remember when I was a little tyke, I would play in my basement. No, not with conventional toys. Oh, sure, one of my distant cousins (who was deeply involved with Sperry Gyroscope and its military inventions) had given me his son’s wonderful Lionel train set (which remained in my possession until I was 12 years old). But, it was my Lionel-Porter Chemistry set that held my attention.

To which I had added myriad chemicals and books, courtesy of Lee’s Hobby Shop, about 5 miles away. Thankfully, there was no age limit on buying various chemicals (and the shop never wondered how I was going to transport what I bought home- in the basket of my bicycle, of course.).

I would perform experiments to the delight of my brother- and the consternation of my parents. One of the experiments involved my converting sawdust to sugar. Of course, I hadn’t considered how much the chemicals cost me to do this conversion- or the abject horror my parents would manifest when they realized this experiment involved hydrochloric acid, sawdust, and a few other compounds being heated to 50 C in a stoppered beaker. (Should I tell you that I was 6 years old at the time? Or, just leave it that my parents promised to have a full larder of sugar from that point on.)

OK. My chemistry experiments were a bit intense. So, years later when I began showing my kids what they could do with chemistry, my wife was adamant as to which chemicals they would be permitted to use. But, the kids loved seeing various compounds transformed, the development of colored demonstrations, and how all of this was related to cooking.

While none of my kids took up the mantle of science (they also made it clear they also had no intention of becoming executives of our firm), they did learn a great deal of chemistry, biology, astronomy, mathematics, and physics. (They also brought friends over to join in the fun.)

Which is exactly what parents need to be doing to ensure our kids- and their kids- have a chance to succeed in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). The fields still manage to provide the highest paid jobs and most respected professions around the world.

Thankfully, most parents have such attitudes. Even if they feel they lack sufficient STEM knowledge and/or background. A new study (SRI International [formerly known as the Stanford Research Institute] and EDC [Education Development Center were the joint authors) found that nearly all parents (despite income or educational attainment) believe it necessary to help their youngsters learn mathematics and literacy. But, too many of them felt unable to help their kids learn science. (Nearly 70% admitted they needed help to discern what scientific principles should be shared with their kids. Yet, some 90% of those surveyed don’t include STEM in their parent-child interactions.) Which is why the study suggested that instead of knowing the answers, it was important for parents to spark youngsters’ curiosity and mental habits.

It is critical for our younger kids to develop good scientific habits. Those skills aren’t the performance of experiments per se, but learning how to frame the question (called developing an hypothesis) and how to seek explanations. The development of models and predictions- and then revising those predictions as they observe the results are the habits that will prove useful throughout their lives.  Whether or not they become STEM professionals!

Amazingly (at least to me), parents didn’t seem to realize that the 5 W’s that we all learned were vital for a good news story are the same things that are necessary for scientific thought. OK, maybe not as much the who- but the when, where, what, and why are vital.

Which may be why the study proposed that CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting- which covers both public radio and public TV), as well a digital media providers, to ramp up their activities in this area.

Because every civilization needs STEM professionals to propel economic growth.  And, knowing how to phrase a query- and obtain solutions- is vital for all of us.

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