This article was paid for by BP and commissioned and edited independently by 快猫短视频
Do you remember your first trip to a science museum? Or a youthful dream of becoming an astronaut, doctor or engineer when you grew up? You鈥檙e reading 快猫短视频, so there鈥檚 a good chance you can relate to early experiences like these.
But for many young people, science, maths and engineering don鈥檛 figure in life beyond obligatory school lessons. They are alien concepts far removed from their everyday experiences.
Advertisement
And once a teenager has decided science isn鈥檛 for them, that鈥檚 pretty much it. The process of science education quickly filters them out. It鈥檚 difficult to take a science A-level without good grades in science at GCSE, and pretty much impossible to do a science degree without science A-levels.
By then, it鈥檚 usually too late to consider a career in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM). This insidious filtering is ruling many young people out of potentially rewarding and well-paid jobs. It leads to skills shortages and even plays a role in the UK economy鈥檚 low productivity.
Increasing young people鈥檚 interest in science could change that. But how? Enter , of University College London, who studies educational inequalities. Archer and her colleagues have coined the term 鈥渟cience capital鈥� to evaluate and measure how likely people are to engage with science in their education and careers. The idea is borrowed from French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu鈥檚 concepts of social and cultural capital to describe how people engage with the arts.
Science capital covers relevant qualifications, interests, attitudes, contacts and 鈥渢he stuff you do in your free time鈥�, says Archer. Crucially, it also incorporates identity 鈥� whether someone sees themself as able to understand science, and how their interactions with other people help shape this.
Science capital is the crucial ingredient that young people use to build STEM careers. So finding ways to increase it is an important part of the recipe for their future success.
The first step, of course, is to measure science capital. In surveys of schoolchildren in the UK, Archer and her colleagues have found that five per cent of them have high levels of it but a much larger 27 per cent have low levels.
They also found that those with low capital are less likely to participate in science. Specific groups are much more likely to have less capital, including children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Then there is the significant gender gap in certain subjects. Only 20 per cent of physics A-level students are girls 鈥� a figure that hasn鈥檛 changed in the past 25 years, according to the . 鈥淭his has been an issue ever since science started to be taught in schools,鈥� says educationalist Emma Smith of the University of Warwick in Coventry.
鈥淭he business world, which struggles to find employees with the right STEM skills, is also taking notice鈥�
If we can measure science capital, can we increase it? Archer thinks so. A key approach is changing what it means to be perceived as 鈥渟ciencey鈥�. Many schoolchildren think the term only applies to peers who manage to give confident, technical answers to science questions in lessons, says Archer.
She and her team are helping teachers to change this in a handful of schools around the UK by making the subject relevant for all children. This might involve teaching the science of sound to children in West London using the Notting Hill carnival as a context, for instance.
Another approach is to highlight concepts that children already understand but do not seem 鈥渟ciencey鈥�. 鈥淜nowing about dance can help them understand how pivots work, for example,鈥� says Archer. Informing children of the broad range of careers a science education can lead to 鈥� beyond the typical 鈥渨hite coat鈥� roles 鈥� could also help transform attitudes.
Two years into this schools project, promising results are emerging. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing an increase in engagement, and attainment has gone up,鈥� says Archer. 鈥淭here鈥檚 broader participation, even from quieter students and disadvantaged students.鈥�
The work goes beyond schools. The Science Museum Group 鈥� an alliance of museums in London, Bradford, Manchester and York 鈥� is keen to help. 鈥淪cience capital is at the heart of what we do,鈥� says Beth Hawkins, learning resources manager at the Science Museum in London. The business world, which struggles to find employees with the right STEM skills, is also taking notice. Research into science capital has been funded to the tune of 拢4.3 million over 5 years by the global energy company BP.
Archer and her colleagues are not the first to try to solve problems of engagement with science but they hope to be more successful. Clare Gartland at the University of Suffolk thinks that some previous efforts have only reached children who already have plenty of capital.
Attempts to encourage girls to study engineering by introducing them to female engineers and role models have not made a lot of headway, says Smith. 鈥淲ISE [Women in Science and Engineering] have done amazing work with individual students, but overall it hasn鈥檛 made much of an impact,鈥� she says.
Other efforts have had bittersweet outcomes. A recent government drive to encourage the study of coding in schools led to a significant rise in those taking computer science degrees. But computer science now has one of the highest levels of graduate unemployment, says Smith.
She also sees academic attainment as a persistent, major barrier for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A solution could be open access universities that value vocational skills as highly as qualifications, she says.
The work to boost science capital aims to overcome these problems and Archer is optimistic about the future. In a 10-year study of young people鈥檚 attitudes, she discovered that some perceptions are starting to change. 鈥淲e found that there are increasing references to 鈥榞eek chic鈥�, which I think is really helpful, because it makes [having an interest in science] more normal.鈥� Add to that a multipronged approach from teachers, universities, museums and companies, and it looks as if society is beginning to make some headway in creating science capital for all.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淗ow much is your science capital worth?鈥�
听