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This mosaic of the Andromeda spiral galaxy, released by NASA' s Jet Propulsion Laboratory January 5, 2011, highlights explosive stars in its interior, and cooler, dusty stars forming in its many rings.HO/Reuters

Every parent can encourage scientific discovery in their child. And not every parent has to be like Birdton, N.B.'s Paul Gray, whose 10-year-old daughter Kathryn made the news by discovering a supernova, or exploded star, last week. The best science education teaches problem-solving skills and can help us build a more innovative society. And that begins with getting kids excited about science.

We need excitement because we are falling behind. The 2009 report of the Programme for International Student Assessment found that, compared with its 2006 study, more countries are outperforming Canada in high school math and science achievement.

Too many parents are holding kids back because of their "science anxiety," a nervousness that comes with scientific illiteracy, says John Percy, professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of Toronto. Meanwhile, most school teachers of younger students lack knowledge of scientific basics, so they stick closely to the assigned curriculum. The products, often, are "recipe labs," prescribed experiments where the teacher already knows the expected outcome.

But just recreating results is boring rote learning, not science. The spirit of discovery that inspired Kathryn Gray requires three things: tactile experiences; techniques that connect science to real life; and role models who convey their passion for discovery.

With this combination, the fundamentals of science - collecting original data and analyzing it; assessing it against known theories of how the world works; creating new experiments - can be taught to children of any age. And while there are some teachers doing this kind of work, using expensive telescopes or everyday objects like potato-chip bags, we need more of them.

Schools need to create more opportunities for skilled science teachers to teach their colleagues. Governments should make undergraduate science training a prerequisite for primary-school science teachers, as it is at the secondary level in many provinces. And they can all work with existing organizations like Youth Science Canada or Let's Talk Science to bring working scientists and the best pedagogical techniques and tools into schools.

Meanwhile, parents can get involved in their school boards, to make sure that their kids have access to the tools of discovery. Some priorities may be out of whack: The Toronto District School Board, for instance, only spent $450,000 on science equipment last year.

The spark that ignites passion about science resides in every child. The scientific method itself may be the best tool to ignite it: a willingness to experiment, an acknowledgment of what we don't know, and a zeal to create connections - in this case, between kids and inspiring, knowledgeable people with the time and resources to teach them.

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