Question: What do you think is the best way of engaging young students in science and engineering in a way that they understand everything?

Paige Brown answered on 17 Mar 2012:

Hi ellisk!!! Now THIS is my type of question!!!

This is actually not as simple of an answer as it might seem. Many scientists think of engaging young students in science and engineering simply as providing students with more interesting and educational information on what the field(s) involve and why they make good careers.

I personally believe in going a step beyond that. Sure, educating students on ‘What is engineering’ is awesome and much needed. But active scientists and engineers should not have education be THE final goal, but instead should try to achieve DIALOGUE with students. That is why I love ‘I’m an Engineer, Get me Out of Here!’, because this project gets scientists, engineers, and students talking together, back and forth with equal give and take! I believe that engaging people with science through dialogue should be the new standard for science and engineering outreach.

Going even further, dialogue should work 2 WAYS – not just scientists answering students’ questions, but scientists and engineers asking the STUDENTS questions!! Scientists and engineers could gain great insight and creative solutions by asking students what they think about the scientific projects the scientists and engineers are working on. Students often come up with inspiring and insightful feedback for scientific projects that can make these projects go further in creating products that the public can actually use and benefit from. We need to be asking the public and young students what THEY want out of science and engineering! What problems do they see with their world that they think science and engineering fields should be working to solve?

A great example of a scientific project that is reaching out to the public in large numbers is Catalytic Clothing, an ‘environmental clothing’ initiative started by an artist & scientist team that seeks to purify the air and help large cities reach pollutant emission standards by treating our clothing with ‘self-cleaning’ nanoparticles. This project went out into the streets to ask members of the public, especially high-school students, what they thought of the technology and how the technology could be improved and marketed to the wider public. Watch a video about this scientific project below:
The Catalytic Clothing Story from Helen Storey Foundation on Vimeo.

The biggest thing to understand is this: currently active scientists and engineers DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING! Young students are so very valuable in bringing ‘new blood’ and new life into science and engineering. We should acknowledge that young students have great and innovative ideas BEFORE they ever enter a formal education or a college degree.

LISTEN to our young students!!!

“Simply trying to educate the public about specific science-based issues is not working. We need to move beyond what too often has been seen as a paternalistic stance. We need to engage the public in a more open and honest bidirectional dialogue about science and technology.” – AAAS Chief Execture Officer Alan Leshner, Science 2003

Public Engagement with Science: What it Means: http://blogs.nature.com/from_the_lab_bench/2011/09/22/public-engagement-with-science-what-it-means