A big part of engaging kids in science is not getting the single, correct answer; it’s being willing to work with students to discover the correct answer.

We look at science as something very elite, which only a few people can learn. That’s just not true. You just have to start early and give kids a foundation. Kids live up, or down, to expectations.

Sometimes parents squash students’ interests because they are afraid of science or math. So they don’t participate. You don’t have to know the answers to engage kids; you just have to let them know it’s important.

I think science fiction helps us think about possibilities, to speculate – it helps us look at our society from a different perspective. It lets us look at our mores, using science as the backdrop, as the game changer.

In fourth grade, I was interested in all areas of science. I particularly loved learning about how the earth was created.

Kids come out of the chute liking science. They ask, ‘How come? Why? What’s this?’ They pick up stuff to examine it. We might not call that science, but it’s discovering the world around us.

Science provides an understanding of a universal experience. Arts provide a universal understanding of a personal experience.