When delivering science education, it is vital that pupils understand the extent to which science fits into wider aspects of society, culture, and history.
Contextualising scientific learning helps pupils to better interpret and engage with the world around them, encouraging them to become more invested in the science they are learning as they understand its wider impact.
Through using different disciplinary teaching approaches and interactive resources which examine a diverse array of topics, your school’s teachers can help pupils understand how science links to history, philosophy, geography, English and many more disciplines.
Science education has long struggled to engage certain groups. This is disproportionately the case for women and people from minority ethnic groups. According to data from UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (2019), less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women.
Data from the Department for Education (2019) suggests that at key stage 4, girls are far less confident than boys in their abilities in maths and science subjects – and perhaps as a result girls are less likely to study STEM subjects at A level.
Such gaps suggest a need to adjust our approach. How can we ensure that more children enjoy their science lessons, feel connected to the subject, and feel inspired to continue exploring beyond the classroom?
The factors influencing our young people’s choices for further study come via a window of opportunity far earlier than one might imagine. A research study entitled Why Europe’s girls aren’t studying STEM (Microsoft, 2017) concluded that there is a four-year window of opportunity to foster girls’ passion in STEM subjects, beginning at age 11 when interest in these subjects hits its highest point.
The report states: “For the first time, we can say decisively that most young European women become attracted to science, technology, engineering, and maths between the ages of 11 and 12. But that interest then drops off significantly between 15 and 16, with limited recovery.
“This means that governments, teachers and parents only have four or five years to nurture girls’ passion before they turn their backs on these areas, potentially for good.”
Therefore, primary school science lessons in particular should be engaging, enjoyable and approachable for all learners in a bid to take make the most of the period of enthusiasm that the research says pupils will experience.
Taking this one step further and ensuring we take a more holistic approach by making cross-curricular connections will mean we can better support children’s understanding of complex topics, hopefully leading to more inquisitive and engaged young learners.
Particularly for girls, contextualising science learning can be an extremely fruitful way to encourage engagement with the subject.
In the same study, Microsoft found that girls respond better to science teaching when they are taught how it is applied in the real world. Hands-on experiences and experiments undoubtedly bring theory to life and are a huge driver in boosting pupil engagement.
However, linking scientific concepts to real-world examples can yield even more interest and support pupils to build connections between what they are learning and how it can be applied to what they are already familiar with within the world.
A range of resources
Making use of different types of resources where possible allows educators to appeal to each pupil’s way of communicating and learning.
Using a mixture of video, interactive games, audio banks or even physical artefacts, as well as traditional textbooks and practical activities, will bring elements of the lessons to life for each learner in a unique way.
Lessons conducted with only one approach will likely have the result of unintentionally excluding some pupils and may preclude them from exploring their interests in science.
For example, topics such as evolution and the discovery of fossils allow for obvious links to history and even religion or philosophy lessons. The Association for Science Education has a lesson plan resource focusing on Mary Anning, the English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist. Using the lens of history, educators can encourage pupils to develop critical reasoning and learn about the scientific process that surrounds ground-breaking, controversial advancements, while also learning about the broader historical context of the discovery of fossils and the development of classification systems.
Science and history have a particularly strong synergy here, as educators can draw upon moments in history and significant breakthroughs to make the wider application and magnitude of scientific discoveries far more obvious to learners.
The Mary Anning resource also supports getting more girls engaging with STEM by using female role models combined with real-world discoveries.
Of course, not every pupil will go into STEM careers or study a science subject at university. This makes it even more important to ensure all pupils are afforded the opportunity to have a well-rounded foundation in science.
Creating cross-curricular links allows educators to meet their pupils where they are, accommodating their interests and abilities by teaching science in a more accessible way. The result is that these learners can reap the rewards of a solid grounding in science no matter what they go on to do.
Instilling skills of inquiry and intellectual curiosity is an important part of sparking a lifelong love of learning, all of which can be inspired by active participation in science lessons.
Turning challenges into opportunities
At a time where children are granted more or less unfettered access to the internet, engaging critical thinking skills and making sure they are intellectually curious is vital to protect them from online harms and the threats posed by false information.
Ofcom’s media and attitudes report last year found that 63% of children aged 8 to 11 are using social media platforms. With the prevalence of scientifically dubious – or indeed, entirely false – content which can be found online, the importance of teaching children to be inquisitive and mindful of the sources they are accessing is clear.
Integrating other subjects and intellectual disciplines with science lessons is a key step in creating a generation of independently minded consumers of content – for example, understanding (in an age-appropriate manner) that images or figures may have been manipulated.
Sowing the seeds for young people to be engaged, critical thinkers starts at an early stage, particularly with increasing usage of online media from younger ages.
Teachers can also capitalise on pupils’ interests beyond social media. For instance, Ofcom’s report found that around 9 in 10 children play video games. So combining beginner coding resources with art and design lessons could allow children to nurture a burgeoning interest in game design.
The advent of AI requires creative thinking and applying different concepts alongside the algorithms that power these programmes; it requires the evaluation of the output of generative AI platforms. This is an example of how an understanding of science alongside other subjects is essential.
Final thoughts
Much more can be done to encourage children’s sense of curiosity when it comes to their scientific education. Inspiring the next generation to think outside the box requires us to do the same as educators.
Science is inextricable from the world around us. We should therefore approach science lessons in a way that will allow us to maximise the opportunities for young people to be enthused by, and benefit from, real-world application of science concepts.
- Marianne Cutler is director of policy and curriculum innovation at the Association for Science Education. The charity seeks to promote high-quality science education and encourage pupils' curiosity and engagement with science. Visit www.ase.org.uk
Further information & resources
- Association for Science Education: For details of free resources, including the Mary Anning: A fossil hunter's story, visit www.ase.org.uk/ase-resource-hub and www.ase.org.uk/mary-anning-fossil-hunters-story
- DfE: Attitudes towards STEM subjects by gender at key stage 4, 2019: http://tinyurl.com/yw77a9dn
- Microsoft: Why Europe’s girls aren’t studying STEM, 2017: https://news.microsoft.com/uploads/2017/03/ms_stem_whitepaper.pdf
- Ofcom: Children and parents: Media-use and attitudes, 2023: http://tinyurl.com/52vet9ws
- UNESCO: Women in science, 2019: https://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/women-science