Educators generally agree that children learn best by doing. It is puzzling, therefore, that this awareness is only rarely translated into classroom instruction methods. Amazingly, rote learning techniques are still prevalent in schools. Children are often moved through the same pre-fabricated curricula while the creative and highly effective talents of mentor level teachers are often ignored or stifled. Rigid curricula (be on this page on this day) are neatly aligned to standardized tests but do the children (and society) really benefit from this one size fits all approach? Even the test scores themselves are providing some answers - that rote learning may produce test-takers but it does not produce critical thinkers or even the next generation of creative, enthusiastic scientists. This, at a time when critical thinking skills are increasingly in demand. Research continually validates hands-on inquiry-based learning as an effective teaching methodology for nurturing the future inventors and scientists.