Making an Impact Competition Entry 2011

A number of people have e-mailed me about the 'Making an Impact' competition run by the Irish Independent and the Higher Education Authority that I won last year.  The purpose of the competition was for Masters and PhD students to explain their research in lay person's terms.  Here is the article I wrote for it:

One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.

Albert Einstein

Not every student dreams of being part of a quiz show.  However, with a large focus in secondary school science examinations on recalling facts, one may be forgiven for thinking otherwise.  Despite it being the ‘information age’, where students can find out facts at the click of a button, we still persist in churning out students that have an uncanny resemblance to mini-libraries.  Therefore, it comes as no surprise that many students do not look forward to learning about science.  In ‘fact’, they dread how much they will have to learn-off for an examination.

Learning science should be like watching a live sporting event.  You are sitting on the edge of your seat, observing the spectacle as it unfolds, noting every little detail, immensely engrossed at the possibilities of what might happen.  Despite this ‘live’ excitement, watching the highlights of the same sporting event does not have the same appeal with the result being known.  Yet, in many schools, many students experience a ‘science of highlights’ where they are told the result beforehand and have to follow instructions towards getting that result.  This in turn leads many students to see everything in science as already solved and thus as an exercise in learning off facts.  We should instead want students to engage in the excitement of doing real science: making predictions, making observations, finding evidence and much, much more.

You do not need to be Einstein to know that a science of highlights is not the way students should be learning science, yet why does the problem persist?  Concerns often mentioned by teachers are those of student safety, preparation and tidy-up time within 40 minute class periods.  These concerns are understandable considering it is impossible to watch at many times over 20 students with only 2 eyes.  Not to mention having to get everything tidied and set up for the next class and so on.  Some teachers feel more like a fire-fighter than an educator when doing class experiments, running around to each student’s desk to ensure safety and careful procedure.  It would be great to have smaller class sizes and thus allow more student freedom in how they carry out experiments.  However, this would require lots of money, money that is not available in many tight school budgets.

So what are the solutions?  This research project is looking at how free computer software (called virtual lab, see image below) could be used to offer a new way in which students can learn about science.  The purpose of course is not to replace experiments but to enable students to have more ownership, responsibility and freedom in the experiments they carry out.  The virtual lab can address the previously mentioned teacher issues and would allow more time and space for students to investigate, just like what real scientists do.  It would even cater to special education needs students who may not be able to carry out certain experiments but could do so within the virtual lab.

Results of the research so far have shown very positive attitudes by both students and teachers to the use of the virtual lab.  Students like the quick and easy-to-use nature of the virtual lab.  The virtual lab allows the students to ask many ‘what if’ questions and find out the answers quite readily, both at school and at home.  The safety aspect of the virtual lab encourages these questions by the students.  Many students have also agreed that they would be happy with the virtual lab as part of their examinations.  The use of the virtual lab in this way would aid in a movement away from rewarding mostly recalling facts to more student involvement in their experiments.  Teachers appreciate the safety aspect of the virtual lab and note the impact of the virtual lab on their teaching.  The virtual lab allows teachers to better concentrate on students’ understanding of experiments compared to experiments in the actual lab where they concentrate more on preventing breakages and spillages.

The virtual lab has undoubtedly made a significant impact on the students and teachers who have used it so far.  With further research and further development, the virtual lab has the potential to make a much bigger and broader impact in how science is taught and assessed in Ireland.  It would also lead as an example to the international community.  Importantly, the virtual lab would lead to science that is more interesting, relevant and engaging to students.  Humans by nature have inquisitive minds and our education system should strive to encourage this if it hopes to produce more creative and innovative students. 

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and all science.  He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

Albert Einstein