About Us
History
Science With Me!® was created by Elva O'Sullivan and Scott Rickard, scientists and parents of three young children. Like other parents, the couple was used to having their son Loghlen, then 3, constantly plead with them to "Play with me! Play with me!" Often times, Scott and Elva would develop unique and challenging science projects to capture Loghlen's attention and occupy him.
One day, a mother at the Montessori school Loghlen attended asked if Elva would be interested in teaching an after-school science program at her five-year old son's school. "I found the idea exciting. As a scientist and teacher, I loved the idea of putting my professional skills to work for a new audience," Elva recalled. "As parents, Scott and I jumped at the challenge of developing a sophisticated science program for children, age five to seven years."
By profession, the couple is no strangers to complex issues. Elva has a Ph.D. in chemistry and Scott holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematics. After some internal debate, they decided to not hold back and 'over simplify' the program. "As parents, we tend not to give our children enough credit for their intellectual capabilities. We've all read the parenting books that tell us this. But nevertheless, we still baby talk, we avoid our kid's tough, direct questions and we do things for our children that they are quite capable of doing themselves," Elva explained. "And we tend to think we need to wait until our kids are older to introduce them to things like Science and Math. Scott and I think this is a mistake."
According to Elva and Scott, children are used to extracting knowledge and making their own sense out of what they hear. As parents and educators, they don't believe it's their job to say, "you are too young to understand this." This is a principal philosophy in Science With Me!®. The program is based on the premise that kids, when put in the right environment and asked the right questions, are smart enough to figure things out for themselves. The program mentally stretches kids, building scientific confidence and getting them excited about Science at an early age.
Science With Me!® was piloted in 2003 at the Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, NJ (www.princetonacademy.org). Like any experiment, the results of the program were eagerly anticipated. Happily, the program's number one customer - the kids - loved it. The program was subsequently opened up to the public, but this time with a twist! Parents and guardians were asked to play lab assistant to their child. Unlike other science programs targeted to a youth audience, the kids became the lead scientist and the adults served as assistants.
Based on the success of both programs, the stories and concepts taught in the Science With Me!® classes were turned into animations. Like many parents, Elva and Scott had resolved to never let their children watch T.V. or play on the computer. For some time now though, according to the couple, the kids have been watching (and watching!) an array of entertaining products that are also educational on their home computer. As they became more and more familiar with the youth science market, Elva and Scott realized that there weren't any entertaining, age-appropriate animations devoted to Science. And thus, the Science With Me!® series was born.
The Science With Me!® animations were developed to teach science to youngsters and familiarize them with scientific vocabulary without boring them to tears and turning them off to science for life. Scientific terminology is taught in a fun, entertaining format through music, rhyme and games.
Often, when Loghlen saw his Mom pack her science bag for class, he would always ask if he could join her. Now, the Science With Me!® website enables Elva and Scott to not only introduce the wonderful world of science to young children everywhere, but they can also share their mutual love of science with their own curious, endlessly energetic and inquisitive children - even when they are cooking dinner. Until recently, Loghlen was always asking his parents to "Play with Me! Play with Me." No more! Happily in their household, the new saying is "Science with me! Science with me!"
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