Natural Wonders

"I'll never forget it because I've seen it happen." Children are born curious and eager to explore: forever testing their own strength, moving, examining, dismantling things around them, asking why and how - after all, learning to live has always meant getting to grips with elementary physics. Adults, too - their interest often blunted by years in the classroom - see a whole new world opening up before them as they catch the enthusiasm of the young natural scientists. "We could have called it making a mess, but opted instead for experimenting." Elschenbroich speaks with Nobel prize-winners, inventors and early years teachers and highlights initiatives around the world to change the way we teach and learn the natural sciences. In an approach as fresh and uninhibited as at the birth of natural scientific enquiry, when Leonardo da Vinci tried to fly, this book uncovers the foundations of all research and advocates a new understanding of education in the natural sciences.