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Chamber

Plenary, 03 Mar 2004

03 Mar 2004 · S2 · Plenary

Item of business

Institute for Science Education in Scotland

Davidson, Mr David Con North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

I congratulate Lord James Douglas-Hamilton on securing the debate. I am an applied scientist, although I should point out that I had the privilege of burning the ceiling of my school's new science laboratory the first year that I went into it and that I managed to blow the circuit board at university while conducting a badly constructed experiment, which caused some difficulty for days afterwards.

Wendy Alexander mentioned the Jesuits, who do wonderful things with children aged seven. However, as Nora Radcliffe said, a child's curiosity starts at home at their parent's knee. If we can involve parents as catalysts to show science not as a subject but as a series of facts about how the world goes round, what can happen and what the reactions are, that attitude will be taken on into school. It is too much to expect schools to do everything. We should start earlier and engage mums, through the toddlers class, for example. We should not frighten parents with the idea that science is all about boffins with lots of brains, thick glasses and white coats, because science is not like that at all.

I am particularly concerned about making science entertaining for children. Can we make family days out from science? The Satrosphere in Aberdeen is about interaction with everyday life and is science based, but it is struggling for resources to stay open. There are places in Dundee and other parts of Scotland and there is the Glasgow Science Centre, of course.

We must also ask what needs to be done for Scotland's economy and its future. Members have mentioned different aspects of science, such as genetics, physics and technology relating to the petroleum industry. There is a vast range of knowledge on which we depend for the speciality style that drives our economy. We export many scientists and, as Robert Brown said, the numbers are looking pretty grim.

How can we involve people in science? Should people be incentivised to go into science and teach it? Should some degrees be incentivised? A person should have an education or training that is appropriate to their ability, but perhaps we will have to give a bit of a steer in respect of teaching science. We must make it a fun and sexy subject with which people instinctively want to be involved.

Pupils in primary schools are taught general knowledge and current affairs. Why is science not taught as part of such teaching about what goes on in the world? Teachers could use that teaching to enthuse pupils.

Scotland is beginning to have to work hard in a number of areas to import scientists, the critical mass of whom go into education. The economy is a major area, but perhaps it is not the biggest worry, as it relates to output. We must start at home—at the cradle and at the knee—to try to make science a family activity and fun for parents and children.