Browsing through the Intel Science Talent Search Finalist Facebook page a week ago, I found one particular article someone posted very interesting. The piece was Danny Heitman's The case for treating Super Bowl and science-fair winners differently (Washington Post, February 2011), which responded to President Obama's call to celebrate scientists as we do football players. Though I can't quite do Heitman's entire piece justice with such few words, the author goes on to recount the tepid celebration his high school gave when it awarded academic high-achievers on stage before the study body. In the end, he arrives at the conclusion that scientists have to just make do without recognition in the short-term because, unlike in sports, decisive results take so long to achieve.
Few things could be further from the truth!
It was intriguing to read about Heitman's perspective. Though I recognize the "awkward moment" described in his anecdote, my experience tells me that he finds the right problem, but the wrong solution.
The problem is that not enough American high school students are interested in science. The solution is not to raise our young scientists on a pedestal or to delay their recognition, but to engage everyone else in the community in the same way that sports have the power to do.
Well, what does that mean?
I am fortunate enough to attend a high school with a strong community that celebrates academic and athletic achievements alike. Among the latter, few things unite the school more than athletic matches against our long-standing arch-rival school.
During this past fall, the Choate campus hosted an annual full day of athletic contests between the two schools' teams. At the football game, for example, hordes of students flocked to the varsity field with school-branded vuvuzuelas in one hand and miscellaneous school items in the other. Throughout the game, we watched, cheered, and celebrated as one school. When our rival scored, we banded together as one school. When we scored, we rejoiced as one school.
Sports bring a community together because the people on the sidelines feel that they are part of the team experience. This is why we celebrate our athletes. Yes, the results are also instant, but even when things don't go as hoped, every team has loyal supporters because the audience feels it is part of the team.
The same should be true for science. The people on the sidelines -- the general public -- must experience the excitement of science in the same way scientists do.
Yes, it's possible! I witnessed this power first-hand at my school, during it's annual Student Lecture Series. In the two-evening program, seniors present research work they conducted during the previous summer to the greater school community and the general public. Every year, it warms my heart (really) to see -- just like at sports games -- hundreds of students flocking to the science center auditorium to watch the lectures.
Yes, students want to watch our science lectures.
Why? On the surface, many students come to support their very friends who did this research and will present on-stage that night. This part of the audience comes to quench its wonder about what these students seemingly mystically did throughout the summer. Through word-of-mouth and conversation about our research, interest spread among everyone else to also entice them to come watch. And once the auditorium is packed, the people in the room are suddenly part of the same community that united people on the sidelines.
Unlike in sports, most of the responsibility for implanting that curiosity and interest lies with the scientist. The key to making high school students interested in science is for the scientists to promote themselves. They need to talk up their research, their subjects. Even when they don't find groundbreaking results, sharing findings with non-scientists is still stimulating. Many times, the listeners ask a question that I don't think of, or propose new directions of research because of their fresh perspective. Talking up one's work takes a LOT of confidence, but the results are as rewarding as any touchdown.
Many lament how, in this nation, it is socially acceptable to be not good at math and science. But somehow, illiteracy is shameful. There are probably many reasons for this. Foremost is the fact that people don't understand math and science as easily because it is, in some ways, like a new language. Scientists have to help people to understand science and their work. The presentations at the Science Lecture Series are geared for the general public, so the goal is to help everyone in the auditorium understand scientific research. It's like trying to teach someone a new sports game. Most people watch football because they know how it's played. In the same way, science can unite communities if people first start to understand it. Personally, when sharing my own work, I had to suppress the urge to delve right into "proton reduction electrocatalysts". Instead, when I showed how my research would help develop a next-generation fuel cell that will run the listener's car on hydrogen, things started to make more sense.
The key is to present science as tangible, goal-oriented, and influential in everyone's lives. In many ways, it's easy because science IS so important for understanding today's world and making the most of it. At the same time, promoting science demands confidence in one's own work. But if people sense that confidence, understand the work, and feel a part of the research experience, then suddenly science is something that can motivate crowds and unite a community. It's a lot like a touchdown, you know?
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Sadly that type of community encompasses a small percentage of the US. There currently seems to be a push towards more scientific outreach in the scientific community and hopefully this will lead to change. The bottom line is, you have to fund science to make it exciting. Science is not about teaching a book to someone. It's about getting them to ask questions and investigate themselves by providing them tools to do so. Students ave to have the resources to explore. Schools need full chemistry/biology labs, electronic labs, computers etc.
- The scoreboard displays progress, providing immediate feedback to players and fans.
- Objectives are clear: fans and players know the rules and expectations of performance
- Practice pays off. Drills have meaning. Routines are clearly related to a player’s and team’s performance in a real setting.
- Adults are involved, as mentors, interested in student performance. The ratio of adults involved with kids far exceeds the student:teacher ratio in any classroom.
In his article, 17 Reasons Why Football is Better than High School, ethnographer Herb Childress provides his perspective after spending considerable time in a high school environment in northern California. These reasons and more explain the need for changing the way we think about school.
The following is his article which originally appeared in Phi Delta Kappan in 1998:
http://www.ucfsd.org/~boarddocs/FOV1-00037F8F/FAV1-00037F91/FOV1-0003D925/why%20football%20is%20better%20than%20hs.pdf?FCItemID=S02F31A05&Plugin=Loft
The league was started by Dean Kamen (of Segway fame) for all the reasons you mention, above. Scores of colleges have scholarships in conjunction with FIRST, and big technology companies sponsor teams around the world. It's a terrific hands-on learning opportunity for kids as young as grade school and is the reason my son plans to pursue engineering in college.
Awesome program. Fantastic support. Wonderful teaching. Practical experience in problem solving and troubleshooting. What more can students and parents ask?
Congrats on a great post. I think you are right on that folks in general feel disconnected from science. Its puzzling to me. Maybe because both of my brothers are scientists, even as a dancer I am fascinated by the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
Whether its behavioral, physical, biological, mathematical or astronomical, I am just as likely to start with the science section as I am the arts section.
So, you ask a substantive question...how can more folks feel that connection? You might be one of the people who can make a difference with that. Good luck.
People just act like there is something wrong with you if you don't find it exciting. Playing was OK but watching was a bore.
How many scientists and engineers say they were inspired by science fiction as kids? The trouble is the stuff called science fiction these days has been degenerating since Star Wars. It has become more like fantasy with vampires and werewolves getting equal billing. I guess we need retro-sci-fi.
All Day September, by Roger Kuykendall
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24161/24161-h/24161-h.htm
How much free sci-fi has appeared on the Internet in Public Domain since 2004? Don't the schools want to save money? Aren't they starting to give kids computers?
I bet the educators are afraid to find out what can really be done educationally with computers. They haven't thought of making 700 year old double-entry accounting mandatory..
But for the Physics Olympics - well, he's on his own. Collect entry money from the kids, call the bus company on your own, go to the next board meeting and beg the school board to cover bus costs and maybe a T-shirt for the kids…it's quite the contrast.
It's all about prioritizing.