This dad created a picture book to teach his daughter that chemistry can (and should) be fun.
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Any chemistry teacher can tell you how intimidating the subject of chemistry is for students. Think back to your first experience learning chemistry and there’s a good chance that it was in a high school classroom with a giant textbook full of unfamiliar words and phrases.
One father is trying to counter this tendency to wait until kids are teenagers to teach them chemistry. How? With a children’s picture book.
John Coveyou of Genius Games, a company that makes science accessible and fun through board games, has experience teaching chemistry to students of different ages and knows all too well how many of them struggle to get engaged with the topic. After having his daughter, Nora, he decided to take action and think of new ways to introduce children to this subject that he loves. His latest project, My First Science Textbook, is using cartoon characters to familiarize children with the characteristics of Protons and Neutrons. Below is an interview with John about this project.
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What inspired you to create a book on chemistry for such a young demographic?
I have a passion for science and think one of the main problems in our culture is that it’s not being taught well and/or early enough.
My daughter has an insatiable desire to learn, and that’s just natural for most kids her age. But, as parents, we usually stick to teaching things readily available like colors, numbers and letters. I want my daughter to be as familiar with subatomic particles, atoms, and the building blocks of our universe, as she is with those number and letters.
Your daughter has an adorable presence in the Kickstarter video. She appears to already have an interest in science. What happens between the toddler years and high school that makes science seem so intimidating?
Absolutely! Kids are naturally curious and that’s evident in how they engage with the world around them. I think we focus so much attention of the things we adults “must” teach our kids and less attention on things that seem a bit too complex.
Most likely because these concepts are a bit too complex for parents. But how many kids can use a smart phone better than their grandparents? The gap isn’t capability, its familiarization. If we start familiarizing kids with something we want them to learn, they will learn it.
What is the initial feedback from parents?
Parents have shown me an incredible level of support. I hear nothing but positive things and excitement about having access to something like this for their children.
How does the book make chemistry accessible to young children?
These books lay out principles visually and intuitively. They show particles as characters, and the behavior of those characters mimics the behavior of those particles. Kids might not yet understand what a charge is and the attraction it creates or what mass is, but they know what emotions are and some basics of cause and effect. These books capture what kids know and understand and uses that to explain chemistry.
How did you take this idea and bring it to fruition?
Its all started on a white board. First I laid out some general concepts of what I wanted the books to communicate. Then thought about how they could communicate then in a way that was intuitive. Shelley and I brainstormed different ideas and decided it would be most intuitive to make each particle (the proton, neutron and the electron) a different character with a personality that matches their behavior as particle in chemistry.
As we started to flesh out the science behind these characters we added Mary Wissinger to our team to start putting words to the concepts. We sat for many afternoons together and discussed the basics of chemistry and how these characters could represent that chemistry. Once we knew we had something worth publishing we started looking for an artist and compiling content for a Kickstarter launch. This was my 5th successful product launch on Kickstarter so we had a lot of resources already ready to go. We still have a TON of work ahead of us with getting the files ready for the manufacturing and managing the production process and finally getting the books out to our backers and hopefully into stores, but at least now we know that the idea will become a reality.
Do you have any plans for future science books for kids?
Yes, indeed. We have already started on the next set of books after these. The list of topics is endless since almost any concept can be taught using this style of delivery. We are very excited about what ahead!
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This is one dad who’s taking his passion and finding new ways to share it with his daughter and his students. And I couldn’t be more excited to share this book with the kids in my life.
Check out their video to learn more. Also be sure to venture over to Genius Games & Mary’s website for more info on their past projects and services.
Do you want to be part of creating a kinder, more inclusive society?
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Photo: Kickstarter
The post One Father’s Mission to Make Science Fun & Accessible appeared first on The Good Men Project.