ABSTRACT
Scientific ideas are created by communities of scientists to help explain and predict how the natural world works. The world is very complex and hence science has a lot of ideas to help explain it. When ideas are combined they produce bigger, more powerful ideas which can be used to explain a progressively wider range of events and related phenomena, and hence a more comprehensive picture of the way the world works. The bigger the idea the more explanatory power it has. This chapter exemplifies the value of teaching big scientific ideas such as interdependence, adaptation and inheritance, by illustrating how they can influence the way children think about the living world.
