KANSAS CITY STAR (Missouri) 09 November 08 Shawnee man says reptiles are the best way to get youngsters excited about science
Wichita (AP): If you want to get kids interested in science, Dan Krull says, don’t bother showing them pictures of lions and tigers and whales.
Show them some salamanders, cricket frogs and ring-tail snakes. A real reptile or amphibian, Krull said, is more likely grab a child’s imagination.
“They’re the perfect animal,” he said. “They’re here. They’re in our backyards. The simple fact that they’re available gives them a huge advantage.”
Krull, a UPS driver from Shawnee, was one of more than 100 people who gathered over the weekend at Friends University for the 35th annual meeting of the Kansas Herpetological Society.
Dan Carpenter, the society’s president and an aerospace engineer from Derby, said the group includes teachers, students and people such as him who simply have a strong interest in animals and their environment.
Krull’s presentation, “Using Amphibians and Reptiles as Educational Tools,” was based on a simple premise:
“You can’t walk up to a wolf in the forest and pet it,” he said. “You can’t get close to a bird before it flies away.”
Skinks, lizards and turtles, he said, are different.
“You can handle them. You can touch them. You can even keep them as pets.”
Carpenter said he is a believer in passing his love and fascination with the outdoors on to his children.
“We need more kids going outside, turning over rocks and playing in the mud,” he said. “We don’t need more kids staying indoors, playing video games and eating Cheetos.”
Reptiles are the best way to get kids excited about science