Are young people really turned off by science?

Is science becoming cool again, or are the next generation still turned off by science?

I’m sure science is more fun than it used to be – maybe it’s just my inner geek wasn’t awakened until later on in life – but I’m positive that science in schools and on TV is much more interesting than it was when I was younger.

A day at the Big Bang in March has only cemented this idea. As soon as I walked into the ICC at London’s ExCel I was blown away – there was so much to see and try out; I had to stop myself from pushing the kids out of the way to get in there first!

Primary school was a long time ago and I’m sure we didn’t even have proper science lessons. The most science I remember doing was a project on the solar system, and even now some of what we learned is wrong – Pluto isn’t a planet after all.

But now it looks like kids get to build box girders out of Milky Bars and mix chemicals – all harmless – together the make multicoloured snot and flavoured lip balm. Maybe they don’t actually get to do that in the classroom, but shows like the Big Bang serve to grab their attention and show them how important science is in the everyday world.

I remember being amazed by the science labs at secondary school and thought it was cool we got to do proper experiments. However, I do agree with the recent government report which said although more students are taking science GSCEs, emphasis is on teaching them how to pass exams rather the teaching the importance of experimentation and exploration.

We ambled through the syllabus at a steady pace – while still doing a lot of experiments, probably more than most schools – but we always had at least a month before the exams to simply revise and take past papers. While this meant we passed, it wasn’t the most inspirational of times.

A recent report from the Royal Society suggests that fewer teenagers are taking science A-levels – perhaps this is knock-on effect of how GSCEs are taught. But again, the Big Bang contradicts this ¬– hundreds of teenagers set up stands illustrating the work they’d done for the National Science and Engineering competition.

And these were just the best of the best. Anyone aged between 11 and 18 who had completed a project in science, technology, engineering or maths was eligible to enter the competition and had to make it through regional rounds before being invited to the show.

The diverse array of projects – from powering ipods and games consoles with pedal power to seeing what effect cocoa content had on the melting of chocolate – just illustrated how much the entrants knew about science and how it affects our everyday lives.

Two 18-year-olds were awarded the titles of UK Young Scientist and UK Young Engineer of the Year awards – surely this just proves that science isn’t the turn off it used to be. Incidentally, both winners – Hannah Eastman and Andrew Cowan – have both gone on to study science at university.

The Big Bang also featured live shows from BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory and Brainiac. Now I know we didn’t have TV programmes like this when I was younger – science in a digestible form which is as entertaining as it is informative. If we did, I think there might have been more interest from my generation.

I think it’s becoming more acceptable to say science is cool – after all, science has given us ipods, motion technology for computer games and renewable energy. TV programmes are making science accessible and interesting and its also becoming an attractive career option for today’s teens – I look forward to seeing what the next generation of scientists can do.

Author: Kerry Taylor Smith Staff Writer, Laboratory News