Signal failure: How to get science back on track

Are schools giving children a realistic enough idea of the scientific knowledge that lies behind almost everything we do in life? Do young people realise that science underpins many of the careers they might end up choosing?

The answer to both these questions is an emphatic no, according to a new study by researchers at York University, including evidence from a poll of thousands of primary and secondary schoolchildren.

The research concludes that, among every generation of school leavers, there are tens of thousands of potential scientists who are, partly owing to ignorance, turning their backs on careers with a science component. This, says the report, is denying young people exciting career possibilities, and depriving employers of much needed talent.

The report was commissioned by the education arm of the energy giant, Shell UK, which, like other employers across British industry, is concerned at the decline – over the last quarter of a century – in the number of students opting for science subjects at A-level and university.

The researchers tried to explore school students' attitudes to science, and gauge the extent to which pupils, as they pass through their school years, are disengaging from the subject.

The size of the disengagement became clear, after the researchers analysed answers to a series of questions put to 4,000 pupils, aged nine to 14.

Asked if they were inspired by science lessons, 38 percent said they were. However, when the same 4,000 were asked if they would consider pursuing science in any way after the age of 16, only 28 per cent said they would. The implication is that, for some reason, around 10 per cent of every generation are switching off science after GCSE. With 600,000 children passing through the school system every year, that points to an annual seepage of 60,000 potential scientists.

Several factors are identified as contributing to the decline in interest in science: a curriculum that is considered too theoretical and irrelevant by students; a shortage of specialist teachers, particularly physicists, in secondary schools; and a poor understanding of science-based careers among pupils.

The last finding flows from some alarming responses to questions that probed the children's levels of understanding of the degree to which science plays a part in a large number of employment areas (see below). For example, substantial proportions of those questioned thought there was no science element at all in pharmacy, plastic surgery, motor racing or, even, space travel. And similarly large numbers failed to identify as scientists some of history's most towering figures, including the cancer treatment pioneer, Marie Curie, and the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell.

Behind these answers lie widespread perceptions of science and scientists as being remote from the everyday world. Of those questioned who rejected science as a career, a common explanation was that science meant having a job based in a laboratory, cut off from the world and with little chance to communicate with other people.

One 14-year-old described a scientist as "a person in a white lab coat, with glasses, messy hair, and who likes to play with chemicals".

Addressing this failure to communicate the reality and diversity of science-based careers is seen as key by Professor John Holman, director of the National Science Learning Centre at York University, where the research was carried out.

"We have missed a trick in telling children what is available to them if they do choose science," he says. "We need to be making it clear that if you choose science, you have the world at your feet. Scientists work in everything from computer games to environmental monitoring, and also earn much more money than graduates in non-science subjects."

The report's co-author, Joy Parvin, a chemical engineer, leads a team of science advisers who go into some schools trying to get this message across. But she thinks a nationwide programme, aimed at children while they're still at primary school, is necessary to change perceptions on a large scale.

"At the moment it is a bit of a mess. What we need is a clear set of initiatives, starting from about the age of nine to make children aware of the range of science-based career opportunities."

Only that way, she argues, will the imagination sparked within children during science lessons be harnessed for their benefit and that of the country.

What's the point of science?

Is science needed for a career as a...?

The percentage of children who think that no science is required in each of these fields is shown in brackets.

Astronaut (28 per cent)
Pharmacist (40 per cent)
Plastic surgeon (47 per cent)
Mechanic (55 per cent)
Botanist (64 per cent)
Beauty therapist (75 per cent)
Racing car driver (77 per cent)
Chef (84 per cent)

Are these people famous scientists?

In brackets is the percentage who think that these individuals were not famous scientists, engineers or inventors.

James Dyson (69 per cent)
Alexander Graham Bell (53 per cent)
Marie Curie (76 per cent)
George Stephenson (78 per cent)
Robert Winston (82 per cent)
Jamie Oliver (92 per cent)

Joined-up thinking: a school where science inspires

The six-year-olds at Herbert Morrison Primary School in south London are sitting on the floor, studying a row of objects. These include a pipe cleaner, pencils, crayons, rubber tubing and a plastic mirror. They're about to conduct an experiment.

Helping them is Dylan, nine, from three classes up the school. He's holding a large plastic board, with the face of a rabbit on one side, small light bulbs for eyes, and something that can make a buzzing sound under the nose. On the back of the board are a couple of batteries and two pairs of dangling wires.

The children have established that if they join one pair of wires the rabbit's eyes light up, and if the other two touch, the nose buzzes. Now the task is to see which of the objects in front of them, if they are used to make a connection between the wires, will also create light and sound.

"Someone pick an object," says Dylan. Paul grabs the pipe cleaner, and, with Lottie, holds it between two of the wires behind the board. Nothing happens, until someone spots the thin wire bits dangling from either end of the pipe cleaner. Care is taken to use those to attach to the dangling wires. A cheer goes up as the rabbit's eyes light up: their first choice of object is a conductor of electricity.

This is one of six experiments designed to spark children's excitement about electricity. The concentration on the young faces, and occasional Eureka-moment whoops of joy, show engagement and excitement in equal measure. The day-long workshop, involving three of the school's seven classes, is organised by the Shell Education Service, which travels to hundreds of primary schools in England. Part of the aim is to convey the idea that a knowledge of science will be helpful in life, and essential in numerous jobs.

It's important to start with primary school-aged children, according to one of the workshop leaders, the former science teacher Martin Wesley. "I've taught people at A-level who didn't realise you need chemistry to do medicine," he says. "If you want to be a hairdresser," says the other workshop leader, Meg Post, "you mustn't be surprised to find that you'll be dealing with chemicals, and need to understand how to use them safely."

These messages are getting through to the nine-year-olds I talk to. When asked for examples of jobs where science is important, they list "computer fixing", "electrician", "doctor", "archaeologist" and "cardiac person".

The school's science co-ordinator and reception class teacher, Neil Moorcroft, recognises that enthusiasm for science can wane. "It is worrying that as they reach secondary age, a number lose interest in science. We'd like to be able to tackle that by getting more people into school who have jobs involved with science. But we'd need help to do that."