Science: the new frontline

First Eleven invited Paul Clarke head of science at Oundle, Kate Bellingham former presenter of Tomorrow’s World, Steve Adams of Shrewsbury school and Neil Brooks of The Old Malthouse, Cothill’s inspiring awayday science laboratory, to give their views on how to inspire and educate a new generation of scientists

Paul Clarke, 2010 winner of the Institute of Physics Award explains how schools are working to inspire a future generation of scientists

This era will be viewed by future generations as a golden age for science during which significant advances in our understanding of the Universe and our place within it were made. Discoveries such as the existence of dark matter and dark energy together with the decoding of the human genome already provide compelling evidence for this. This rapid progress in our understanding of the natural world is clearly going to continue over the next few years, propelled by the discoveries from the Large Hadron Collider and the development of exciting new fields such as bioengineering. There is a palpable sense of excitement in the scientific community and it is vital that our children are captivated and inspired by this.

With all these dramatic advances, it is important to educate children so that they are motivated by science and retain an interest in it when they leave school. To do this it is essential that we stress the relevance of science and its importance to everyday life. A component of the public exam system is an assessment of “How Science Works”. It is fair to say that this approach has taken a bit of a bashing in the media with examples of questions quoted in the press that my five-year-old grandson was able to answer. These flawed questions should not be allowed to detract from the fact that giving science a context is important. School children respond well to this approach and a recent example of how this can be developed is a consideration of the science behind the earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima. This has to be done with sensitivity, but an investigation into why there are issues with the damaged nuclear reactors and what this might mean to the people of Japan and the rest of the world highlights the importance and relevance of science if important issues are to be fully understood.

Science used to be taught in a much more abstract way and it was not unusual to see exam questions that had little relevance to the real world. This style is something of a turn off and what we need is an approach that promotes that fact that science solves real and important issues and is a discipline that requires creative thought. Too often pupils have seen the subject as one in which their heads are simply filled with facts and that little input comes from them. We need to provide pupils with a science education that enables them to have informed opinions and the ability to problem solve using scientific method.

The curriculum also needs to be rigorous if we are to retain the interest of our brightest pupils. In the 1960s, President Kennedy set a challenge to the scientific and future scientific community saying: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…”

The lesson we learn from this is that we must not dumb down science, it needs to be rigorous and relevant if we are to retain the interest and enthusiasm of the brightest minds. To do this, we need children to feel that they have an input in what they are learning; their opinions are important they are not just empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. The best scientists are extremely creative people and what we teach and pupils learn needs to reflect this.

The boundaries between the individual sciences have become blurred over the past 50 years and the overlap and common goals of Physics, Chemistry and Biology should be an important feature when setting out the aims and objectives of what we teach. The curriculum should also accentuate the links between fine arts, applied arts and science by fostering collaboration rather than competition between disciplines. Children feel more connected when real-life experiences are used as sources of knowledge to compliment what may be found in a textbook. It is important to encourage a love of learning by fostering reflection and questioning rather than passive memorisation of facts and this is every bit as important in a science curriculum as it is in the humanities.

This liberal arts approach to education has been successfully developed at some of the more prestigious universities in the United States and their graduates provide convincing evidence of how successful this procedure can be in producing well-informed, educated young people. A similar philosophy was evident in a recent science debating competition for schools organised by Imperial College. This event challenged competitors to present cogent, informed arguments supporting or opposing motions connected to contemporary dilemmas pertinent to science. Contests such as this clearly demonstrate how well children respond when challenged to use their knowledge and understanding of science and other disciplines in an enlightened way. This and other imaginative approaches to learning should feature in any contemporary science curriculum. The opportunity for independent work is also important and children respond well when given the opportunity to develop their research skills while working on a project or completing an open ended practical investigation.

The popularising of science in the media is important but the best communicators retain the rigour as well as informing in a way that captivates the audience: they do not have to be viewed as eccentric boffins but more as role models to aspire to. One of the great communicators of science was Carl Sagen and in a famous episode in his landmark series, Cosmos, he reflects on a photograph of the Earth taken by the spacecraft, Voyager when it was in the far reaches of our Solar System. What we see is mostly empty space but on closer inspection a seemingly insignificant pale blue dot not much more of a pixel in size, becomes apparent.

Sagen reflects: “Look again at that dot. That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”

This image has a profound effect on children and certainly gives perspective to environmental issues such as global warming and the damage we are doing to this pale blue dot as we continue our industrial development. Science can provide solutions to these problems but only if we have future generations of enlightened scientists.

Brian Cox is another example of someone who popularises science by stretching and challenging without compromising the content of the story he is telling. His enthusiasm is infectious and his recent series have been a wonderful exposition of how important it is for us to understand our Universe and our place within it.

Children are as captivated by this approach as they are by visits to places where real science happens such as CERN – the European Organisation for Nuclear Research – or other prestigious centres of scientific research. They respond well when they hear from eminent scientists who have passion for what they do. For the past few years I have been taking groups to attend the American Association for the Advancement of Science Convention. At this event, leading scientists from around the world give symposia on what they are doing and what avenues have been opened up as a result of their research. Although this is not intended for school children, the ones I have taken have responded to the unique opportunity exceptionally well and have played a full part by asking insightful questions. Given that some of the presenters are Nobel Laureates, this is a unique experience for them and echoes the sentiments of President Kennedy that it is more rewarding to achieve something that is hard than it is to achieve something that is easy.

Science is a wonderful example of what can be achieved by human intellect. It has a rich and interesting history and it is important that reference is made to this while developing new ideas. As a discipline it is creative, rigorous and, most importantly, fun. This is the message that we need to get across to our pupils if we are to get them involved in solving the problems that are faced by the “pale blue dot” that we call home.