FOREWORD
RECENTLY, I ASKED SOME KIDS why they think it’s important to understand the science of energy. Here is what they told me.
James: “So that we can learn how to power the world without using up all our natural resources.”
Oliver: “So we can learn about our impact on Earth.”
Lily: “So we can understand that driving is bad for the environment and that things like riding my bike can help.”
Sarah: “Because lots of stuff has energy.”
I learned a thing or two about energy science, myself, when I joined photographer Amber Procaccini and a troop of smart, funny kids to experiment our way through the labs in this book.
Some of these labs are instant, science fair–worthy, hits. Kids will discover it’s simple to create an electromagnet using doorbell wire, a 9–volt battery, a nail, and some paper clips. Making glow sticks glow even brighter by putting them in hot water is a fun way to show how thermal energy can speed up chemical reactions. And, burning cheese puffs in a homemade calorimeter is an exciting (and smelly) way to measure the energy in food.
I was also impressed by how well many labs illustrate the conservation issues surrounding natural resources. For example, the Chocolate Chip Extraction Competition (see here) demonstrates the difficulty of restoring something to its original state after you tear it apart, whether you’re mining for chocolate or copper.
In science, the journey is as important as the result. Teaching kids the importance of mistakes, innovation, and persistence is crucial to raising creative thinkers. Lighting a bulb with aluminum foil and a battery required a few tries, but the kids’ eyes shone even brighter than the bulbs when they succeeded. And although the magnetic generator didn’t work on the first try, thinking about why it wasn’t working and troubleshooting the problem allowed the kids to really understand the science behind the fun.
As we wrapped up our lab experiments, I asked Energy Lab for Kids author Emily Hawbaker why she thinks we should understand more about energy. She said, “Almost everything we do requires energy. We use more and more of it each year across the globe as we become more tech savvy, but much of the energy we use around the world comes from nonrenewable resources that have a limited supply. Understanding how we use energy and how we can be more responsible with it is important to making sure that future generations have energy that is sustainable and meets their demands.”
Naturally, her answer was more eloquent than those of the kids, but it was remarkably similar to their combined responses. I look forward to the future, as today’s kids become tomorrow’s inventors and find new ways to use energy more efficiently and less destructively, creating a better tomorrow for us all.
Liz Heineke is the author of Kitchen Science Lab for Kids. A molecular biologist by training, Liz’s love of sharing science with her three children led to her developing her website KitchenPantryScientist. She serves as an Earth Ambassador for NASA. Liz works to make it simple for parents to do science with kids of all ages and for kids to experiment safely on their own.