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Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Week 1999 The Institution annually arranges events in support of a Science Week which is promoted by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1999 a half-day conference and an evening lecture were held by the Institution.
NEW VISION IN SCHOOL SCIENCEDr Eric Albone, Director of the Clifton Scientific Trust, Bristol, on 15 March l999 Originally a research chemist, Dr Albone has been a Bristol teacher and school governor since 1980. He is a member of the Council of the British Association. He first discussed pioneering developments at St. Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol. These involve young people with science through activities relating to basic scientific issues such as cloning, pollution, etc., to engineering and even aesthetics, as for example, with the `chaotic pendulum' now installed in the church. His principal concern is that too few schools provide such educational opportunities and that school science practice is outdated. There is a need to attract better science graduates into schools, who would excite rather than `dumb down' their charges. Science should be recognised as a vital and interesting aspect of the real world rather than as a school subject yielding exam results only, partly through the involvement of users with teachers and pupils. A Trust publication of 1995 which lists over thirty detailed examples of such `bridging partnerships' was sent to every secondary school in the country. After illustrating several examples of such partnerships ,one of which covered expeditions to India, Dr Albone stressed that teacher ingenuity and enthusiasm is essential for success in such ventures. Vision is needed in order to overcome problems of curriculum pressure, time, etc. and the differing worlds of the parties involved. For example, the Japanese are now also experiencing pupil disenchantment with school science - pupils are not being encouraged to think for themselves. Workshops arranged by the Trust since 1994 have required pupils and teachers to share grassroot experiences across cultures. These have secured the enthusiastic support of all concerned here and in Japan with reciprocal visits. From such working partnerships networks have been built and plans for 2001 are already advanced. Not all participants in such networks will be `star' schools, but all should gain considerably from such activities, judging from the solid evidence so far. In discussion Dr Albone reviewed practice in universities and other professional institutions which encourage their own members to be active, but tend to be poor communicators. University students are not encouraged to go into schools and career value is regarded as mainly dependent upon research output. Direct contacts outside the institutions can improve communication skills and, additionally, those students who are not studying sciences can usefully learn something of the nature and practices of sciences in use. Dr Albone agreed that student-school partnerships should not atrophy through the formality of prescribed schemes, but he insists that where opportunity is promoted participants receive worthwhile rewards. Everyone can learn from such exchanges, even when projects fail. While exam structures dominate, some extra-curricular activities may be all that is realistically possible, but ingenuity and vision may move mountains. Geoffrey Catchpole |
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