Toy Challenge

Bringing Science to Life

By Kelly Burgess

Here's the challenge: How do you bring science to life for kids so they don't lose interest? How do you show them that science is a dynamic, hand's on field and not just words in a book or chemicals to observe from behind safety glasses? Sally Ride Science™, an organization dedicated to promoting girls' interest and involvement in science, seems to have found the answer in TOY Challenge. Launched in 2002 for kids in grades five through eight, TOY Challenge is a national competition to design a toy or game. The idea, says spokesperson Toni DiMartino, is to engage middle school-age students, especially girls, in science and engineering and to inspire them to pursue careers in those fields.

Kaycee Johnsen, 12, of Huntington Beach, Calif., doesn't know if she's going to pursue a career in science, but she has loved the work she's done in two years competing in TOY Challenge. "It's different because you get to invent something that you are interested in," she says. "You get to do stuff instead of just listening to the teacher talk or trying to grow a plant like I have done every year since kindergarten."

It's no secret that kids lose interest in science once they get into middle school. In girls, this decline in interest – and in test scores – is even more pronounced. There are many reasons why this happens, but one that many organizations promoting science education are beginning to identify and address is the disconnect between science in the classroom and practical science applications.

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• Talk about it!