Engaging the community in science and helping people develop and an understanding of its ideas is a consistent challenge for science teachers and societal leaders committed to promoting the well-being of society.

Science for all is an objective that can help our society tackle the various daunting challenges of climate change, pandemics, pollution, and even migration.

By connecting science learning to critical societal issues, educators can motivate students and ordinary citizens to enjoy and engage in relevant science. The return of the Science in the City festival is an excellent opportunity to make science relevant for all.

This annual event will take scientists out of their laboratories and onto the streets of Valletta and Floriana, where they will share fun experiments and demonstrations with the public.

The project coordinator, Edward Duca says the aim of the festival has always been to bring scientists, researchers, and artists together with the community “to bring about the change we desperately need in our world today.”

Science as an academic subject to be taught and learned has always challenged both teachers and students. Understanding science as content, inquiry, and process skills is challenging for most students. This partly explains why so few students pursue a career as scientists.

Still, making science relevant to our students can succeed if science teachers put personal relevance in the teaching process. Students’ interests will be energised by connecting science learning to their lives.

Teaching strategies must also use scaffolding to associate new learning with what students already know. The best science teachers ensure that the learning process of their students is always kept fresh and exciting.

The return of the Science in the City festival is an excellent opportunity to make science relevant for all

Many ordinary people also want to see themselves in the content of science issues. They like to understand why the science content is important to them. To do this, science educators, not just at the academic level, can help families and whole communities relate to how science can help them.

For instance, the COVID pandemic has helped many to understand how vital science developments are in our lives.

Unfortunately, as the University of Malta rector Alfred Vella argues, “Ignorance of science leads to fear. Like the fear that some had when science gave us the solution to COVID”. This is why promoting science education for all the community is critical.

Like some other countries, Malta faces formidable environmental and social challenges.

The degradation of what is left of our countryside, the noise, air, and waste pollution that have become endemic, and the increasing threat of mass migration from North Africa as a result of political and economic instability in the region are challenges that Malta, like some other Mediterranean countries, must address with urgency.

A better understanding by the community on how science can help us address these issues will give us a better chance of resolving them successfully.

The university science academics deserve the full support of the community and the government for actively promoting community-based science beyond merely teaching about the science behind the issues affecting our society. Duca correctly insists, “We are faced with huge, complicated challenges like climate change, pollution, inequality, and migration, which are responsibilities that we all must act on; research is the tool that guides us on how to act.”

The sooner we make science relevant for all, the better our chances of finding solutions to the challenges we face.