阅读理解

Childrenstartoutasnaturalscientistseagertolookintotheworldaroundthem．Helpingthemenjoysciencecanbeeasy;there’snoneedforalotofscientifictermsorexpensivelabequipment．Youonlyhavetoshareyourchildren’scuriosity(好奇)．Firstlylistentotheirquestions．Ioncevisitedaclassroomofseven-year-oldstotalkaboutscienceasajob．Thechildrenaskedme“textbookquestions”aboutschoolingsalary(薪水)andwhetherIlikedmyjob．WhenIfinishedansweringwesatfacingoneanotherinsilence．FinallyIsaid“Nowthatwe’refinishedwithyourlistsdoyouhavequestionsofyourownaboutscience?”

Afteralongpauseaboyraisedhishand“Haveyoueverseenagrasshopper(蚱蜢)eat?WhenItryeatingleaveslikethatIgetastomachache．Why?”

Thisbeganasetofquestionsthatlastednearlytwohours．

Secondlygivethemtimetothink．Studiesoverthepast30yearshaveshownthatafteraskingaquestionadultstypicallywaitonlyonesecondorlessforananswernotimeforachildtothink．Whenadultsincreasetheir“waittime”tothreesecondsormorechildrengivemorelogical(符合逻辑的)completeandcreativeanswers．

Thirdlywatchyourlanguage．Onceyouhaveachildinvolvedinasciencediscussiondon’tjumpinwith“That’sright”or“Verygood”．Thesewordsworkwellwhenitcomestoencouraginggoodbehavior(行为)．Butintalkingaboutsciencequickpraisecansignalthatdiscussionisover．Insteadkeepthingsgoingbysaying“That’sinteresting”or“I’dneverthoughtofitthatwaybefore”orcomingupwithmorequestionsorideas．

Neverpushachildto“Think”．Itdoesn’tmakesensechildrenarealwaysthinkingwithoutyourtellingthemto．What’smorethiscanturnaconversationintoaperformance．Thechildwilltrytofindtheansweryouwantinasfewwordsaspossiblesothathewillbeasmallertarget(目标)foryourdisagreement．

Lastlyshow;don’ttell．Real-lifeimpressionsofnaturearefarmoreimpressivethananylessonchildrencanlearnfromabookoratelevisionprogram．Letchildrenlookattheirfingertipsthroughamagni