Sustainable science

Public engagement in the classroom

All tomorrow's adults pass through today's schools and colleges, making the classroom a key stage for public engagement with science.

For the Wellcome Trust, reaching out to young people is a vital part of its public engagement work. "As a philanthropic organisation operating in a democracy, an informed society is naturally important to us," says Peter Finegold, who leads the Trust's education initiatives. "In our education work, you could say we are in the business of making science sustainable."

"There are two important aspects to this. First, we have a responsibility to ensure that our future scientists are as high quality as those that the Trust currently funds. Second, we want to ensure that tomorrow's adults are scientifically literate enough to make informed decisions about the scientific and technological advances that will affect their own lives."

One of the main routes for reaching young people is, of course, through schools, and the Trust's education programme directs much of its work towards secondary schools. In 2000, the Trust commissioned a key piece of research from the Institute of Education; 'Valuable Lessons' highlighted a number of the problems facing science teaching in UK secondary schools, and helped the Trust to set its current priorities.

A more contemporary curriculum

Chief among these priorities has been pressing for change in the National Curriculum. The specifications for science curricula are, says Mr Finegold, "rather stuck in the past. Young people see exciting scientific work and intense ethical debates reported in the media, but they don't see them reflected in their school studies. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee - to which the Trust gave evidence - recently made this same point."

The problem is in part that science teachers see teaching as a 'knowledge quiz', with the emphasis on accruing facts. They are uncomfortable with leading debate or encouraging opinion. In addition, the dominance of educational league tables makes teachers very reluctant to deviate from the prescribed curriculum.

Science teachers have a particular fear of new content, because they have a vested interest in being an authority in a way that humanities teachers do not. In a sense, says Mr Finegold, there is a need to promote more cross-curricular approaches: "There is a 200-year-old split between the sciences and the humanities, and a good deal of mutual suspicion. What we are looking for is a transfer of reciprocal skills between sciences and humanities."

To start to address some of these issues, an entirely new science GCSE - 21st Century Science - is due to begin its pilot phase in the autumn of 2002. It has the backing of the Government and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The pilot is being run by Salters-Nuffield, and the Trust has contributed funding towards it. "It will reflect ethical debates and contemporary science," says Mr Finegold, "and will constitute a whole new way of looking at and doing science."

The Trust will also be supporting education-based initiatives through its new 'Engaging Science' grants programme. Young people's education is one of three priority topics for 'Society Awards', which will provide sums of £50 000 or more to support projects introducing new ideas into science education or to boost science teachers' confidence in handling socioscientific issues.

More contemporary teaching

Such initiatives hint at profound shifts in the way science is taught. To try and facilitate such a shift, the Trust, in partnership with the Government's Department for Education and Skills, is working on a proposal for a National Science Centre for Excellence in Science Teaching. The centre will promote excellence and innovation in science teaching, and be complemented by a network of ten regional centres.

The Trust will be committing up to £25 million, with the Government poised to announce its own contribution over the coming months. According to Mr Finegold: "The centre will be able to provide high-quality professional support to science teachers and school technicians. It will be a crucial part of their continuing professional development, supporting them to implement the changes in the curriculum, in terms of both content and teaching methods and approaches."

The centre will be residential, enabling teachers to spend two or three days on intensive training. The training provided will be from a range of training providers - "we want it to keep very fresh," says Mr Finegold - and it will be rigorously monitored. "We're committed to innovation and as a result are setting aside a significant proportion of the Trust's education budget to encourage the development of new continuing professional development for science teachers. These will be evaluated, and the best of them used in the new centre."

Teachers will be able to try out new research techniques for themselves, as well as learn new teaching skills, and will also have access to state-of-the-art information technology. The centre is expected to be up and running by 2004.

Supporting the current curriculum

While placing much emphasis on future changes, the Wellcome Trust also supports teachers in implementing the current curriculum. Recent work has focused on the citizenship component of the core curriculum, introduced this September.

Citizenship studies are intended to help children take an active part in civil society, realise their rights and responsibilities and engage in debate. In 2001, the Wellcome Trust - in partnership with the Association for Science Education (ASE) - began collaborating to promote the scientific aspects of the citizenship agenda. The gains are twofold: not only does analysis of ethical and social issues in science help children to engage in contemporary debate, it can also help maintain interest in science itself at a crucial stage in education.

The Wellcome Trust-ASE collaboration has developed two citizenship units and teaching materials as part of the QCA Key Stage 3, which covers 11-14 years olds. The units are supported by additional materials, published on the ASE's Science Year CD-ROM Can We? Should We?

The Wellcome Trust and ASE held a conference in February 2002 to promote the teaching materials and learn more about what works for teachers. It was clear from the conference that many science teachers already include citizenship elements in their classes, and noted that pupils are far more interested in science if it is made relevant to their own lives or to topics in the news.

The power of drama

Since 1996 the Trust has used the performing arts to help raise social and ethical issues in science, with an extensive programme of theatre-in-education reaching almost 100 000 young people. The Y Touring Theatre Company has produced plays on a variety of contemporary scientific issues. 'The Gift' looked at embryo selection and the dilemmas facing three generations of a family; 'Cracked' looked at teenage depression; 'Pig in the Middle' tackled xenotransplantation; and 'Learning to Love the Grey' addressed stem-cell technology. A further three years of performances of these and other specially commissioned plays in schools and young people's institutions across the country were jointly funded by the Office for Science and Technology and the Trust.

Other initiatives have supported drama created by children themselves. As part of Science Year, the Trust's Science Centrestage project provided an opportunity for schools to develop a short piece of work tackling a contemporary scientific issue. The strongest pieces got the chance to perform in regional festivals, and then a national festival of drama. "There was wonderful work," says Mr Finegold. "The diversity of ideas, the power with which they were expressed, and the depth of the children's perceptiveness in teasing out social and ethical dilemmas was hugely impressive."

"Because we've seen the power of drama in engaging children with these issues," adds Mr Finegold, "we have set aside £0.5 million for a new grant scheme for young people's performing arts". The scheme will be launched in autumn 2002, and will take a broad approach to funding: "We are currently working out the best way to divide the grants between supporting live performing arts, broadcast media, new writers, and local and national theatre companies," he explains.

A unique perspective

How does this work tie in with the Trust's more familiar initiatives in biomedical research? The great advantage, suggests Peter Finegold is that the Trust is uniquely placed to bridge the gap between different communities. "We're first and foremost a scientific organisation. But we acknowledge that there are real democratic issues about new science and technology. We don't assume science always has all the answers. But we are seen as authoritative and reliable; the Trust knows its science. Teachers appreciate the high quality of the resources we provide and the fact that they are unbiased - we present a range of arguments."

With the right materials, background and training, says Peter Finegold, teachers will be better equipped to lead debates reflecting topical and relevant issues. That's likely to engage students and promote a greater scientific awareness and literacy. "We believe it is in everyone's interests to ensure that there is full and open debate."

External links

21st Century Science : Project details
The Professional Association for Teachers of Science
National Science Centre for Excellence in Science Teaching : Consultation details (PDF)
Can We? Should We?: Details of this CD-ROM produced for the Association for Science Education's Science Year
Y Touring Theatre Company