When Pat Wald pulls on her starched white lab coat, she is transformed into Dr. Science at the Hands On Children’s Museum. Wald’s goal is simple – to spark a child’s interest in the natural world. She creates her experiments under the principle that science is the process of observing the natural world.
Pat’s Background
You may assume that Wald’s path to creating the Museum’s Dr. Science persona was through a traditional science background. Quite the opposite is true. Wald, who earned an undergraduate minor in geology, actually was a teaching artist with a Master’s in Fine Arts in Textiles.
Wald began her teaching career as a university art professor before joining the Olympia School District as an Artist in Residence. After 12 years in this role, Wald returned to school to earn her education degree. “I got my Education degree on a Friday and I started at the Museum on Monday,” says Wald with a chuckle.
As she created and re-interpreted Museum galleries, she started developing curriculum that aligned with the Washington State guidelines.
Kids + the Scientific Process
Wald highlights that observation is the very first step of the scientific process. “It’s also the first step in drawing and descriptive writing. We ought not to call it art, science or writing but rather observation. I try to get people to look very carefully at one thing, for example a buzzing bee. Then, take what you observe about that bee and apply it to learn other things, like how a bee uses vibrations to pollinate flowers and to keep the baby bees warm in their nest,” describes Wald.
“I want kids to understand that there is more than one kind of science. Apply a child’s interests – animals (biology), tinkering with building toys (physics), cooking (chemistry). When I finish a program, I always connect the project to a career so that children can see the potential,” Wald explains.
Kids + Vocabulary
Dr. Science never uses ‘baby talk’ but rather encourages adults to not be afraid of using a big word with kids. Little kids like big words. Wald suggests limiting discussions to one principle, or concept, at a time and using big words in context.
For example, when explaining the concept of absorption to very young children, kids drop water on different kinds of paper to see how they absorb. When Wald uses the word ‘absorb’, she’ll touch a sponge, and make a slurping sound. “In the context of doing something with absorption, a child may only need to hear the word two or three times to understand it’s meaning,” she explains.
Any experience with a child is a good time to build vocabulary. A trip to the grocery store is an opportunity to learn that an orange is a ‘sphere’ and a soup can is a ‘cylinder.’ You can learn the names of unusual fruits and vegetables and also learn the meaning of the word ‘unusual.’ “Vocabulary skills are one of the leading contributors to how well a child will do in school,” notes Wald.
Creating Dr. Science Projects
To create her Dr. Science programs, Wald picks a topic and then tinkers around in her home workshop. She may run into Cash & Carry and grab any supplies that can be made into something else. “I use materials that kids know, things they can find at home or easily pick up at the grocery store. I want the child to look at the project and understand that they can continue the learning by building it at home,” explains Wald.
She also selects materials that are safe for the children to work with and not stressful for the adult. “Playing with water is a great example. If it spills, we have a lesson in absorption and evaporation. When we want to experiment with something really messy, we do the project outside,” jokes Wald.
After creating the project, Dr. Science then makes an appearance at a major Museum event, such as a day camp or Boo Bash. “I get to watch lots of kids interact with my project. Then, I fix what did not work, take the parts that went smoothly, and create the final curriculum. I can teach something over and over again to get the bugs worked out. Then, when it’s done it gets taught to hundreds and hundreds of kids,” explains Wald. Her projects are used in the Museum’s programs including field trips, preschool, outreach programs, home school science classes, and day camps. Additionally, teachers visiting the Museum through field trips also use the curriculum in their classroom.
“One of the most important things we stress with young learners is that mistakes are part of learning, or creating something new. We encourage them to get out there and fail, fail, fail – it’s all part of the process. As adults, we are bad role models about making mistakes.
As Dr Science I try to share with the kids the mistakes I experience when working with new materials. I want to impart in kids the attitude that there is ‘no problem that you can’t tackle, it may just take a number of tries,’” explains Wald who states that kid’s creativity is a constant inspiration to her and gives her a very positive outlook for the future.
