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To All Parents and Teachers:
How to get your kids or students the best science education possible, period.

By Dr. Shawn
(Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.)

Parents, are you concerned about the quality of your kid's education in math and science? Teachers, are your frustrated by how hard your school system makes it for you to help your most interested students excel in these extremely important subjects?

You should be!

Statistics don't lie. No matter what your race, religion or background, a good education in the sciences is the most direct path there is to a great job and a bright future.

Unfortunately, American students are amongst the worst prepared kids in the entire developed world to enter the 21st Century workforce. It's shameful, and we simply must to do something about it. Your kid's future is at stake!

Now, I am an ardent supporter of our nation's hard-working teachers. But the truth is that the public schools simply can not fix this catastrophe, and it's easy to see why...

Just ask yourself this question. If your teenager told you that they wanted to be a musician would you say "Great! You can learn everything you need to know in high school band"?

Of course you wouldn't! You'd want to find an adult who shares your kid's passion--someone who knows where your kid is coming from, who's already gotten where your kid wants to go and who wants to teach your son or daughter how to get there. Right? In short, you'd find them a music teacher, or rather, a music mentor, to guide your child towards his or her goal.

Well, science is a lot like music--you can't really understand it unless you have experience doing it. Only, science is harder than music... much harder.

So how can anyone expect a young person to be able to really learn science without really doing science?

The only way to learn how to do science, that is, how to make scientific discoveries on your own, is to work under the watchful eye of someone who already knows how. Sadly, however, your child's school isn't likely to be able to identify great science mentors, to train them, to vet them, and then to connect them with the kids who so desperately need them.

But these mentors are out there, And they are anxious to help! Any adult who knows how to make a scientific discovery is a potential mentor, and there are millions of them living in every community in America. And I know from long personal experience that many thousands of them would love to give back to the community; to pass their knowledge and skills on to the next generation. But they are locked out of the public school system!

America could literally raise an army of passionate science mentors and march them joyfully into battle against science illiteracy!

Unfortunately, I've been banging my head against schoolroom doors for over a decade now. The sad truth is this: the public schools are just not set up to connect mentors with kids for the months and years it takes for students to master the art of discovery. My years of frustration have convinced me that if we are ever going to address the science literacy problem in America and connect kids to great science mentors for the long haul, we have to do it completely outside the public school system.

That's why I invented Labrats.

Labrats is a new grassroots movement -- an ever growing collaboration between parents who want a better education for their children, teachers who know their students would benefit from after-school training in math and science, and mentors who want to give back to their communities.

The program is open to all young people grades 6 through 12, and is modeled on the highly successful example of the Scouting organizations. Kids come together once each week to take part in fun-filled hands-on science-based activities, and take monthly field trips. These events are organized by a committee of parents and lead by volunteers who act much as a Scoutmaster does in scouting. The activities are downloaded through the the Labrats Website (now under construction). They have been designed to be easy to understand and exciting to do, and are so well supported that any adult, even someone with no previous knowledge of science, can easily lead the kids through them. Mentors often help out here, as well as older kids who lead meetings as part of their community service requirements.

As they grow in knowledge and experience, Labrats members advance through a series of ranks. These emphasize breadth at the lower levels, and depth as the member advances. In addition to demonstrating a mastery of basic science knowledge and skills, advancement requires public service and a demonstrated commitment to the high ideals of the program.

Ultimately, the members will design and carry out original experiments under the guidance of an experienced mentor. Their first experiments are aimed at answering questions posed by their mentor, but later the students get to find answers to their own questions and thereby make discoveries that will be new to them, and sometimes also new to science!

Parents, just think of the self-confidence your son or daughter could gain, and teachers, think how grateful your students would be, if they could discover something that no other human being had ever known before!

Students who stay the course will get the best kind of science education possible. Moreover, they will be able to demonstrate both a mastery of content and skills that few kids outside the program could match, and the strength of character required to pick a difficult goal and achieve it. What's more, since the mentors will know their students very well, they will be able to write the kind of letters of recommendation that will make a big impact on college entrance committees.

That is the promise of Labrats!

Do you want your children or students to get the best science education possible? Do you want them to be in an environment where being smart is celebrated instead of ridiculed? Do you want them to form positive peer bonds and to work with men and women whom they can respect and admire, successful intelligent people who give back to their own communities? Then join the Labrats movement today!

It's so easy. First, sign yourself up below for the Labrats Revolutions news group right now. We will contact you about what you can do to get involved. It costs nothing to join, and I'll personally make sure that your email address remains completely secure. A revolution has never been so easy to join! Just fill in the information below, and click on the "Join" button.

Also...

Parents: sign your kids up for Labrats-Online right now! I've already got a newsletter going that is teaching many of the same things that your kids are going to learn in the full organization. And again, it's FREE! The signup form for Labrats-Online is on my science fair support Website: www.scifair.org.

Teachers: tell your students about SciFair.org! Put it on your resource sheets. Talk to your fellow teachers both about the Website and Labrats. And please make sure to mention both during your parent conferences, especially those conferences about gifted or science interested kids.

Keep in mind... the first Labrats chapters will be forming in select cities very soon. We hope to go nationwide just as quickly as possible thereafter.

Won't you please take a moment right now to fill out our registration form?

Please Sign Up for the Labrats Revolutions News Group. CLICK HERE!

Yours for great science,

Dr. Shawn

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