ABSTRACT
“If you need an apple seed to get a tree, and a tree to get an apple seed, where did the first tree come from?” This key question about the origins of life was posed to me by a bright, inner-city second-grade girl. Despite her curiosity about the natural world, her insightful contributions to class discussion, and her ready adoption of new concepts, this girl insisted that she was “not good at science.” What is her image of science that she sees herself as “not good at it”? What can be done to help her construct an image that incorporates the questioning and curiosity that she, herself, has in such abundance? The underlying motivation of my research is to improve children’s relationship to science by helping them construct a richer image of science, one that reflects the world and work of scientists and connects science to their own abilities and activities.
