4 Ways to Encourage Students to Love Science

I’m school assembly performer Joe Romano. After presenting my wildly entertaining science assemblies in schools across New Jersey, Maryland, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and other states, I’ve discovered some highly effective techniques other educators and parents have discovered to motivate kids in science.

Science Tips for Kids #1: Tie Science to the Real World

One reason some kids don’t enjoy learning about science is they can’t relate to it. Much of science seems very abstract and disconnected from the rest of the world. If you want kids to enjoy science, find ways to show how they encounter science in the real world!

In my Is It Magic or Science school assembly, I demonstrate several fun and exciting science experiments. Then I show how these same principles are in kids’ everyday lives. By showing kids science is all around them, they take more of an interest.

If you’re a parent, look at your child’s interests. Are they hooked on video games? There is almost an unlimited amount of science in video games! What about sports? If your child is into baseball or field hockey, it’s easy to point out the several scientific principles at work in their sport of choice. If you’re a teacher, you can poll your class to find out what your students are into. From there, illustrate the scientific principles at work in those interests.

Science Tips for Kids #2: Get Them Involved

Rather than just passively tell your kids about science, get them involved! There are loads of science experiments you can do with your students that are safe, inexpensive, and fun. Let them experience science for themselves. And here’s the extra awesome part: To children unfamiliar with these concepts, science often seems like magic! They’ll be amazed at what happens. And their natural curiosity is satisfied because they get to learn how the experiment works.

As your children discover these wonderful principles for themselves, get excited. Kids learn when and how to react to something by modeling the adults around them. Want your kids to get fired up about science? You gotta get excited too!

Science Tips for Kids #3: See, Hear, Smell, & Touch

Remember Ferris Bueller’s teacher? He spoke in a boring monotone voice. It’s no wonder the students in his class fell asleep! If you want your kids to get excited about science, you need to engage their senses. We have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

I already briefly touched on touch (no pun intended) in the tip above. Getting kids actively involved in science means they get to touch stuff. But touching isn’t the only sense. Yes, they will hear you talk about science, whether at home or in the classroom. But you can use other senses, too.

Think of TV shows like Nickelodeon and MythBusters. They made science fun because there were so many cool things to look at. Use bright colors, interesting props, and fun visuals. You can do a cooking experiment. There’s plenty of science in the culinary arts! This is especially fun for kids – they get to learn about science, get involved, and even smell and taste the results of their experiments!

Science Tips for Kids #4: Remember Your Kids’ Age Levels

When you’re teaching science, it’s easy to get bogged down in the language. There are a lot of awesome details in all of those cool experiments. But too often kids lose interest because of those details. Kids are already struggling to understand these concepts. Plus they might be learning some key terminology for the first time.

Try to keep any science experiments squarely at the developmental level of the kids you’re working with, both at home and school. You don’t want to push kids too hard with the terminology and scientific concepts at the same time. And it’s always good to start slow. Just like with reading – kids learn the alphabet, then work their way up to more complex material. Same with science. Stick with their level and introduce more complicated material after they grasp the basics.

Want to Get Your School Excited About Science?



As I mentioned earlier, I have an entire school assembly dedicated to science! I've delivered this fun and engaging science school assembly in VA, NJ, PA, NY, MD, and other states for years.  It’s called Is It Magic or Science? In this wild and wacky science assembly, I get up to a DOZEN kids onstage involved in fun and amazing science experiments. Want to find out more? Contact me today!