School science is so dull it repels pupils for life, MPs say
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Your support makes all the difference.Science lessons for GCSE pupils are so "boring" that many young people are being put off the subject for life, a scathing report by MPs warned yesterday.
Teachers are failing to stimulate pupils because their lessons only offer a series of dry facts, and practical work has become tedious and dull, the Commons Science and Technology Committee report said.
Instead, teachers should engage students with debates about lively topics such as GM foods, the MMR vaccination and the chances of asteroids colliding with earth.
The all-party committee called for an overhaul of the way science was taught to make it more relevant to "everyday life".
Dr Ian Gibson, the Labour chairman of the committee, said although science should be the most exciting subject for pupils, in practice it could be dull. "GCSE science students have to cram in so many facts that they have no time to explore interesting ideas. This is a disaster," he said.
"We need to encourage a new generation of young scientists and to ensure that the rest of the population has a sound understanding of scientific principles."
The committee found that GCSE students were often obliged to go over topics that they had covered in earlier years. "Inevitably, they find this boring," the report said.
Coursework had become "tedious and dull" and the curriculum did not take the different interests of boys and girls into account. "It would seem that students study science post-16 not because of science at GCSE but despite it," the MPs said.
The three main exam boards, Edexcel, AQA and OCR, were criticised for failing to make their syllabuses more interesting. Unless they became more imaginative, the Government should withdraw their accreditation for setting science exams, the report said.
The MPs also condemned the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the exams watchdog, for its "lack of direction" in allowing GCSE science to stagnate.
They said: "What is important is not that citizens should be able to remember and recall solely a large body of scientific facts, but that they should understand how science works ... so that science can help rather than scare them."
The MPs also called on the Government to invest at least £120m in Britain's crumbling science laboratories.
One committee member, Desmond Turner, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, said if science lessons were more relevant, the public would have a better grasp of issues such as the MMR jab. "Part of the reaction to MMR and the scare stories put about it is there's no general public appreciation of dealing with evidence," he said.
A Department for Education and Skills spokeswoman admitted there was room for improvement, but said English 15-year-olds came in the top four out of 32 countries for scientific literacy last year. "This is a major achievement, and the £60m invested in school labs in the last two years will further boost standards," she said. "We will continue the drive to improve our science base in schools and universities."
Sir William Stubbs, chairman of the QCA, rejected the criticism, saying the report gave an "incomplete picture".
But leading scientists welcomed the findings. Peter Atkins, professor of physical chemistry at Oxford University, said: "School teaching of science is in the grip of outdated and unimaginative curricula. That's not to say that we should give up teaching facts ... Instead, we must stress the importance of how science uses relatively simple ideas to generate huge insights into the world."
Dr Peter Cotgreave, director of the Save British Science Society, said young people did not realise how employable science qualifications made them. "At school, they had all been given the impression that if they studied arts and humanities, they could become the next Jeremy Paxman, but if they studied science and maths, their career options were more limited. This is very harmful nonsense," he said.
Experts's view on how to make the subject more interesting
Lewis Wolpert, professor of biology as applied to medicine at University College, London, said: "This report has got everything completely wrong. You have got to learn some science before you sit around discussing it ... I find the idea that we have to keep young people 'amused' by science so patronising. Science is tough and you have to work at it. That's what makes it interesting."
Richard Dawkins, professor of the public understanding of science, University of Oxford, said: "I suspect that it is the national curriculum which has made science boring. However my remedy would not be to throw in whatever happened to be in the newspapers that morning ... I would rather go for the timeless fascination of science – the things that have been true for billions of years."
Dr Audrey Matthews, principal lecturer in chemistry at De Montfort University and a "science ambassador" to schools, said: "A lot of the excitement of science has been lost because of the pressures of the assessment system, health and safety issues and limited resources. Pupils love all the pops and bangs but I fear they now spend their time learning the theory rather than seeing it for themselves."
Sir Alistair MacFarlane, chairman of the education committee of the Royal Society, said: "School science concentrates too much on churning out exam candidates who feel like contestants for quiz shows. Pupils are required to memorise facts and figures in a way which does not develop an appetite for the real spirit of science and an understanding of its relevance to everyday life."
Dr Sue Mayer, executive director of GeneWatch UK, a group concerned with the ethics of genetic engineering, said: "I am constantly impressed at the public's understanding of science ... I have also been impressed by what I have seen of the national curriculum ... There are deeper reasons why young people are not following careers in science. There are now more glamorous career options on offer."
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