Science is a way of thinking

Welcome back to Curiosity. The book says straight away that it is not just a textbook with facts. It is an invitation: to question, to do experiments and to explore the beautiful world we live in.

Look at the page numbers. They follow a butterfly and a paper plane. A butterfly flutters freely and a paper plane flies into the sky; in the same way, learning takes flight when curiosity leads. Real scientists studied bird wings and paper planes before anyone built an aircraft. The dream of flying started with simple observations.

Science is a process: a way of thinking that welcomes curiosity, asks questions and stays open to the unknown. Two people see an apple going rotten. One says throw it away. The other asks why is it rotting? The second one is doing science.

In Grade 7 the questions go deeper. The book names three:

• How do things work?
• Why do events happen the way they do?
• What can we learn from the patterns we see in nature?

The world of science covers everything, small and large, near and far: tiny cells inside a leaf, the movement of the Sun and the stars, the materials in your home, even water flowing underground. You do not need a laboratory to start. Walk past a street lamp and watch your shadow grow longer and shorter. That is science too.