Under the MicroscopeFifty years ago in an essay, The Two Cultures, published in The New Statesman, the physicist and novelist CP Snow described the gulf of incomprehension that lurks between the two cultures of science and the humanities.
"A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice, I have been provoked and have asked the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold; it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is the scientific equivalent of: have you ever read a work of Shakespeare's?"
The gulf between the two cultures still exists. In the Sunday Observer on July 1st last, Tim Adams revisits the debate and embellishes his piece by posing six basic scientific questions to a celebrity panel. I will give you the questions, so you can take the test for yourself. The answers are at the end of the column. The celebrity panel was composed of three writers, three scientists and two broadcasters. You can access the article at http://tinyurl.com/3ah9nc and the quiz at http://tinyurl.com/23wssd.
The six questions were: 1. Why does salt dissolve in water? 2. Roughly, how old is the Earth? 3. What happens when you turn on a light? 4. Is a clone the same as a twin? 5. Why is the sky blue? 6. What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
The non-scientists scored very poorly, but such quizzes are not the best way to test scientific literacy - some of the scientists didn't do too brilliantly either. Probably the most we can aspire to as regards general scientific literacy is that people would have a general feel for how science works and what it tells us about the world. For example, everyone should know that when dinosaurs trod this earth, humans did not exist. However, in a recent survey 42 per cent of Americans said they believe humans have lived on earth since the beginning of time.
The 2007 Leaving Cert results and CAO offers are now to hand and demonstrate again that young people continue to show declining interest in science and scientific careers. Leaving Cert results in mathematics, essential for the physical sciences and engineering, are alarmingly poor. Once again the annual suggestions are trotted out as to how to get more young people into science and how to improve results in mathematics - pour money into practical laboratory science at second level, offer bonus points for taking Leaving Cert. science and maths, make the syllabus more interesting, and so on.
The gulf between science and general culture doesn't help, but, in my opinion, the primary reason why young people (and their parents) remain unenthused about science is a very practical one - they do not perceive that science offers the prospect of secure, high paid, high status careers. Until this perception changes, we will not see any great improvement in uptake of science subjects or improvement in maths results, regardless of bonus points and shiny new laboratories.
LET'S DO A thought experiment. Imagine that third-level places in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine were greatly expanded so that 400 points would get you in, but, there is also a requirement that you must achieve at least a C in Honours Maths in your Leaving Cert. What would you predict would happen to the numbers taking honours maths, and to the average result achieved in honours maths? Do you think there would be any need to tempt students with bonus points to do honours maths?
The reason why a realistic chance for the average student to get into medicine would, in the above scenario, make honours maths very popular is because medical careers are seen as high paid, high status, as well as interesting. If you have to do well in honours maths to get there, so be it. If careers in science and engineering were viewed in the same light the result would be the same, but, until this happens the current situation of lacklustre interest in science and poor performance in maths will continue. Government, industry and third-level institutes must prove that choosing science and engineering leads to readily available, secure, well paid, high status careers.
Answer to Quiz
1. Sodium chloride is made up of alternating positively charged sodium (Na+) and negatively charged chlorine (Cl-) ions. Water molecules are partially positively charged at one end and partially negatively charged at the other end. When salt is added to water, the partial charges on the water molecule are attracted to the Na+ and Cl- ions. The water molecules work their way into the crystal and between the individual ions, slowly dissolving the salt.
2. The Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old.
3. Switching the light on completes an electrical circuit and allows electricity to flow through the filament in the light bulb. The filament heats up and emits light.
4. Identical twins are clones, but non-identical twins are not clones of each other.
5. Visible light is a mixture of colours - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, going from longer to shorter wavelength. The longer wavelengths tend to pass straight through the air, but the shorter blue wavelengths get scattered in all directions. Some of the blue light enters your eye wherever you look in the sky - so, the sky looks blue.
6. In a closed system disorder increases with time.
William Reville is associate professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer at UCC - understandingscience.ucc.ie