‘Getting hands dirty best way to learn’
Leading expert warns of ‘Bake Off ’ effect when it comes to teaching science
A LEADING educational scientist has warned that children need to spend less time being told about science and more time getting their hands dirty, playing with Lego and stepping away from their tablet computers.
Shane Bergin, physicist and doctor of science education at University College Dublin (UCD), said it is imperative children get as much hands on experience as possible.
“Getting out into nature, climbing trees, playing with creative toys like Lego are all crucial aspects of children’s development and to secure Ireland’s future science-related job prospects,” he said.
“It is how we learn, and things are no different when it comes to learning about science. Actually doing science is far more important than just listening to someone tell you about someone else who did science in the past.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are – there’s no reason why a 15-year-old, or for that matter a five-year-old, can’t do practical science.”
Dr Bergin said the example could be applied to when you read cook books or watch TV cooking shows, it is a poor second to actually baking a cake.
“You can’t say you have an understanding of what’s involved in baking until you’ve done it. Watching ‘Bake Off’ isn’t enough,” he said.
“It doesn’t make you good at baking but actually getting stuck in with your ingredients, making mistakes as you go, figuring out what went wrong and crucially, taking the advice of someone who knows what they’re doing, that’s a completely different thing.”
Dr Bergin was speaking at the launch of the Science Apprentice – a series of four fun books in association with UCD, the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme and the Environmental Protection Agency, which are designed to stimulate children’s interest in science.
The books, covering Super Bodies, Up In The Air, Illusion and How It’s Made, feature Irish researchers and schoolchildren and are free with the Irish Independent from SuperValu stores from Saturday, November 3.
“Getting your sleeves rolled up is how people learn best about all things regardless of what age they are, and science is no exception,” he said.
“Young children are perfectly well able to get in there and do science. Now, it mightn’t be Nobel prize-winning work but they can learn the basics of thinking scientifically, examining a hypothesis and then testing it. We do this with primary school kids all the time and it works really well.”
Dr Bergin is also a big fan of the role of play in learning, saying that good education works with and not against the urge to play in children.
“Kids learn all the time by playing, whether it’s social learning or how to live in the world,” he said.
“We also learn from all sorts of teachers – they can be formal teachers in school or informal teachers like our parents and our peers – anyone who has done something before and can offer you a different experience.”
The Science Apprentice books have downloadable teacher and parent resources created by Sorcha Browne, Dr Bergin’s PHD student, online at ucd.ie/scienceapprentice.