Say the word ‘scientist’ and one might imagine someone in a lab coat inside a sterilised laboratory conducting experiments with complicated formulas and petri dishes.
However, that is only a small fraction of what science actually is. The food of chef Heston Blumenthal is science, so is the work of those mad storm chasers we see on television. The fashion designer who recycles plastic bottles into wearable clothes is a scientist too and so is the craft beer brewer.
“Science is all around us, it’s the basis for everything we use, wear, eat and drive. Science can and is used in almost every career and is a career path which is poised for growth, and we need to be teaching it that way,” says Shaun Fuchs, founder and CEO of Centennial Schools.
“The South Africa education system needs a new approach to teaching science to ensure we’re meeting the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) requirements of the country. South Africa faces a dire shortage of STEAM professionals,” Fuchs says.
“Because we produce so few STEAM experts, many jobs in the sector are outsourced to large multinational companies. What is urgently needed is homegrown STEAM talent. To achieve this, there needs to be a dramatic change in the narrative around science, and the way in which it’s taught in our schools,” he says.
Centennial School’s science teacher, and lifelong science fan, Lyn Haupt does exactly this by offering a new perspective on teaching science.
“At Centennial Schools we are technology-based in our education outlook. Students already enrich their lives with technology, and if we can use technology to enrich science learning, it’s a win for all of us. While textbooks are great supplements, we need to do real science using some form of technology. We record everything we do, we log our data, cellphones are used to measure time, pictures are taken, and videos are made – that how we show our students the importance of data analytics.”
Haupt’s biggest concern about traditional science teaching methods is that it reduces the subject to a set of fragmented facts, good for writing an exam, but really bad for a full understanding of what it all means in a real-world context.
“While our lessons have traditional content, we also teach our students to go through the mental and physical activity of doing science. We run experiments similar to those working scientists conduct so that the students understand the actual process of science.
“At the moment, the curriculum is designed for students to memorise facts. Students who scored good marks in matric go to university and end up failing tests because they know the facts, but not the application. We need to balance out facts with actually doing science that matters.”
The solution to this is simple, says Haupt, and needs to start as early as Grades 7, 8 and 9. “We have to change the way questions are asked. We must do more practical work based on outcomes.”
Fuchs agrees: “Scarce skills in South Africa range from geologists to chemists, software developers, multimedia designers, investment managers, high school teachers and tax professionals. All of these require STEAM learning.
“STEAM education also contributes skills to the primary and secondary sectors of the economy – agriculture, mining, manufacturing, utilities, and construction – which contributes to around 30% of our GDP and 30% of employment opportunities. Once we start showing students that STEAM is a major influence in creating entrepreneurs and innovators, we are on the right track” concludes Fuchs.
