World's students shun 'boring' science

Malta has the lowest number of technology graduates in Europe and still not enough students are choosing science and engineering subjects at post-secondary level.

But it is far from being the only country with such a problem. In a world making unprecedented progress in science and technology, students are turning away from science subjects, Unesco reports in its latest Education Today newsletter. Basically, they are finding the subject too dull and theoretical. The following are excerpts from the report:

Most countries are facing the biggest lack of student interest in science over the last 30 years. According to the OECD, the number of science and engineering graduates is falling, just as demand for scientific advances and technological innovation is increasing. A strange paradox, since no period in history has been more penetrated by and dependent on the natural sciences than the 20th century.

Most sectors of society are concerned by this lack of interest. Industrial leaders fret about having a qualified work force, universities and research institutions about new researchers, and education authorities about the lack of qualified teachers in these fields.

Experts agree: the need for science and technology education is greater than ever to make sense of today's world. Beyond its industrial and economic uses, science education teaches people how to discuss and question things, how to challenge established truths and respect other people's views.

But why are young people turning away from science in school? According to Svein Sjoberg, a science education professor at the University of Oslo, a "white-coated, hardworking and poorly paid scientist in a laboratory is not a role model for many of today's young people". The role models are instead football players, film stars and pop artists.

As a result, students tend to switch to other subjects that are more interesting and less demanding than science. Young people also perceive science as dull, abstract and theoretical.

Part of the blame for this unpopularity can be put down to the shortcomings of science curricula and textbooks, which often lead to rote learning and give no real understanding of concepts. This ends up with students becoming bored and developing a lasting aversion to science. The classroom approach to teaching mathematics and science is almost entirely authoritarian: lecturing, note-taking and question and answer sessions. Little practical work is done.

In many countries, experiments are demonstrated by the teacher while the students watch and take notes. The development of a scientific way of thinking is abandoned in favour of the learning of definitions and standard procedures.

If scientific and technological education is to meet learners' needs, it is important to know what they find interesting. A study among 10,000 13-year-olds in 21 countries found that both boys and girls preferred topics such as life outside earth, computers, dinosaurs, earthquakes and volcanoes. However, subjects closer to their daily lives, such as plants, food processing, detergents and soap found less favour with them. Interestingly, these findings challenge the position that young people want to learn about things that are concrete and familiar to them.

Getting young people enthusiastic about science calls for an effort by teachers, who are generally poorly prepared to teach the subject and often did not study or like science themselves at school. In the classroom, these teachers are faced with students who frequently have more skills in information and communication technology than they have, even though their understanding of the underlying physical principles may be totally lacking. Educational authorities and teachers might well build on these skills of the young in new and inventive ways.

Another challenge is how to tackle the persistence of gender stereotypes. Being a scientist appears to be one of the most stereotyped of all occupations and there is quite a psychological barrier to overcome if more girls are to be attracted to science subjects. Encouraging women to do professional training involves combating these obstacles. Studies in Africa have shown that girls learn science disciplines better when there is a less didactic and more hands-on approach.

If the European Union is to meet its goal of raising research and development spending to three per cent of GDP by 2010, it will require an estimated 700,000 new researchers. Likewise, the United States National Science Foundation estimates that employment in science and engineering will increase three times faster than the overall rate of employment between 2000 and 2010.

Where will these scientists come from? The full potential of the female population is a still largely untapped reservoir of skills. Apart from the just demand for gender parity, this is a chance to be seized.