Developing a passion for science
ALLOW students to develop a liking towards science, says Prof Sir Martyn Poliakoff.
The British scientists says if students are taught with the intent of fulfilling an aim of increasing the scientific workforce, it will be doomed from the start.
“Everyone is interested in Science, even those who claim to dislike it.
“There are important questions they wonder about, such as how their bodies work and the origins of the universe.
“The real problem is, people have given the impression that it requires immense hard work to understand (science) and that it is easier to make money doing something else.
“It is important to excite young people but it is also important to avoid putting them off,” he adds.
Prof Poliakoff, a research professor of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, recently shared his expertise in chemistry with school students. He demonstrated a dry ice experiment and gave a talk on developments in global science communication at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
Commenting on the increase in the number of students opting for the arts stream rather than science in Malaysia, Prof Poliakoff draws the analogy with that of a relationship between two people.
“When two young people meet, the aim is normally not to find a husband or wife and instead, it’s about (first) finding somebody we like.
“So, you cannot start a relationship, and in this case it’s between youngsters and science, with some agenda.
“You must allow it to develop. The first thing is to get them to like it and want to continue (their relationship with science). The rest will follow,” he shares.
The global leader in green and sustainable chemistry believes science is important for understanding the universe we live in.
“We need science to devise ways our planet can cope to support the population.
“We live on a planet which now has a population of 7.6 billion and it is expanding, but the resources aren’t.
“It is a rewarding and enjoyable profession for people to follow,” he adds.
The idea behind the dry ice demonstration, he says, is to show how water becomes acidic when carbon dioxide is added to it.
“During the demonstration, the water was much more acidic compared to regular sea water.
“We used two cylinders which have indicators that change colours once the water becomes acidic.
“It starts with a greenish colour and changes into a pinkish solution. We then drop dry ice into it, which is solid carbon dioxide.
“What happens is, clouds of water vapour are formed.
“The point of it is to show that as the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, the sea becomes more acidic, making it harder for organisms like corals and seashells to survive as they are made out of calcium carbonate which dissolves in acidic water,” he shares.
Prof Poliakoff says while an educator may not be able to teach his students within a stipulated time, he tries to excite them about science.
Known for his YouTube videos called The Periodic Table of Videos, Prof Poliakoff evidently enjoys talking to youngsters.
“I try to engage with school children and (varsity) students as much as I can and one of the ways is through YouTube because it allows me to get to a much bigger audience that I can in person.
“These videos started almost by chance where we began with the periodic table which has 180 elements.
“We started by making one video per element,” he says.
Impressed by Prof Poliakoff ’s demonstration, Harkishen Singh, 15, hopes to follow in the former’s footsteps and become a scientist.
“Sharing how he did his own experiments and being creative about exploring science when he was a student is encouraging for me.
“His dry ice demonstration was interesting but worrying as well because of how acidic seawater is as a threat to sea creatures,” adds the Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar student.
The boarding school’s head of Chemistry, Paul Allen, says such events are important to inspire students and help them see the bigger picture.
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus is a contributor to the Star Education Fund.