I believe that part of what propels science is the thirst for wonder. It's a very powerful emotion. All children feel it. In a first grade classroom everybody feels it; in a twelfth grade classroom almost nobody feels it, or at least acknowledges it. Something happens between first and twelfth grade, and it's not just puberty. Not only do the schools and the media not teach much skepticism, there is also little encouragement of this stirring sense of wonder. Science and pseudoscience both arouse that feeling. Poor popularizations of science establish an ecological niche for pseudoscience.

Carl Sagan

More Quotes

You may also be interested in these:
Joy of Making Indian Toys
A Royal Diet of Mangoes
Excerpts from 'Everything has a History'
Children and Water
AHA! Books: Arvind Gupta

Source: https://www.pitara.com/non-fiction-for-kids/quotes-for-kids/i-believe-that-part-of-what-propels-science/

Pitara Baby Name Finder
Now you can search through thousands of baby names with advanced filters;Save your favorite names and organize them into personalized shortlists; Invite family and friends to collaborate on your baby name shortlists


Pitara literally means 'a chest full of surprises'. For over 25 years (this website was started in 1998) we have been publishing original multi-cultural, multi-lingual and inclusive content to help kids explore, discover, learn, play, enjoy... All our content is copyright protected. If you wish to license our content please ask us — some of the world's leading publishers regularly license our stories, poems, science features, folktales and more...

© 1998 – 2026 Impellio Media Company