{"id":49366,"date":"2019-09-09T16:10:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T23:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=49366"},"modified":"2019-09-09T16:10:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T23:10:55","slug":"keep-your-job-options-open-and-dont-ditch-science-when-choosing-next-years-school-subjects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keep-your-job-options-open-and-dont-ditch-science-when-choosing-next-years-school-subjects\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep your job options open and don\u2019t ditch science when choosing next year\u2019s school subjects"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thousands of Year 10 students are in the process of choosing subjects for their final years of school and half will probably choose to ditch\u00a0science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For someone like me who thinks science is one of the most worthwhile things I\u2019ve ever studied, that decision is bewildering.<\/p>\n

The downward trend in science enrolments has been watched with concern for\u00a0decades<\/a>\u00a0and is the subject of much\u00a0research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But still science continues to be out of favour with teens despite its potential use in a wide range of employment opportunities, beyond the traditional science careers.<\/p>\n

Teens live in a world of science<\/h4>\n

Today\u2019s teenagers have gown up in a world shaped by science. Most don\u2019t know life without the internet and have the world at their fingertips (and parents to help) through computers, smartphones and other connected devices.<\/p>\n

Schools are doing what they can to try to teach students the skills they need to prosper in a future that continues to be shaped by science, with increased use of\u00a0automation<\/a>,\u00a0artificial intelligence<\/a>\u00a0and so on.<\/p>\n

You would think students in this environment would jump at science as a subject that teaches critical thinking and problem solving \u2013 just the\u00a0skills<\/a>\u00a0needed in this modern world.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just not happening.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of\u00a0books<\/a>\u00a0written on why students aren\u2019t choosing science and\u00a0government<\/a>\u00a0reports on why we need more science skills, so you might wonder what hasn\u2019t been done.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where my research comes in. I have studied as a scientist, teacher and marketer and I thought the problem might not be science at all, but how students see science compared to the other subjects they can choose. To me it looked like a purchase decision.<\/p>\n

How students choose subjects<\/h4>\n

I wanted to know how students chose their subjects and how they saw science, so I\u00a0asked<\/a>\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

Initially, I spoke to 50 students from five New South Wales schools and then 15 adults (careers advisers and teachers) who helped students make their choices. I went to the information events at these schools and reviewed the subject choice documents given to students.<\/p>\n

Next, a group of 379 Year 10 students were surveyed to ask about their subject choices. They were asked to rank 21 factors I found students considered when they chose their subjects. These factors included things such as parent advice, teacher advice, enjoyment of a subject, subject difficulty and the expected mark.<\/p>\n

What I found was that the students seemed to use a two-stage process to choose their\u00a0five to six subjects<\/a>. The first stage was a choice on \u201clove\u201d or \u201chate\u201d (they used those words). Then, with any subjects left over, they judged the value of the subject compared to the others available.<\/p>\n

This value was in terms of how useful a subject was for a career or further study, and how much effort they would need to put in to get good marks. Unfortunately, this is where things go wrong for science.<\/p>\n

Science looks like the bad buy<\/h4>\n

Students reported more often (16 against 7) that they saw science as harder than other subjects, and as harder to get marks. Students didn\u2019t say they wanted to avoid work \u2013 it just had to be worth it.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, science has a problem here too. Students repeatedly\u00a0commented<\/a>\u00a0that science wasn\u2019t as useful as other subjects \u2013 unless you wanted to be a doctor, scientist, engineer or something similar.<\/p>\n

I did not see anything at any of the school subject selection events that countered this idea. This makes science look like the bad buy. It\u2019s seen as expensive in terms of time and effort to get marks, and as having limited use.<\/p>\n

Yet science is useful in a range of careers, from carpentry to management and many other roles \u2013 basically any career that needs answers backed by evidence. Science helps us to understand and participate in the world in which we live.<\/p>\n

But this is not clear to students. Their perception of the usefulness of science is very narrow, so there is no longer pressure to include it as a staple next to mathematics and English.<\/p>\n

Seeing the value of science<\/h4>\n

Knowing this gives us something to work with. Along with all the other great work to help students love science, we can work on their perceptions of the value of science at the time they are choosing subjects.<\/p>\n

Schools should invite people from a wide range of career backgrounds to come talk to students to share their ideas on how science is useful in their jobs.<\/p>\n

We can also do some very practical things to make sure science is at its most attractive when students are choosing subjects \u2013 for example, doing fun work in the lab and not scaring them with any challenging exam just before they choose.<\/p>\n

These teenagers do not take subject choice lightly \u2013 they know they may be closing the doors on some paths. It would be wrong to convince students to take any subject that\u2019s not right for them, but this is about helping them see the value of science.<\/p>\n

If they see that value of science subjects through good information and good experiences then they may decide to stay with science, at least for a couple more years.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Tracey-Ann Palmer is a Lecturer, Initial Teacher Education at the University of Technology Sydney<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Year 10 students are in the process of choosing subjects for their final years of school and half will probably choose to ditch\u00a0science. For someone like me who thinks science is one of the most worthwhile things I\u2019ve ever studied, that decision is bewildering. The downward trend in science enrolments has been watched […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":49367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[8092],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-49366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-science-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeep your job options open and don\u2019t ditch science when choosing next year\u2019s school subjects - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/keep-your-job-options-open-and-dont-ditch-science-when-choosing-next-years-school-subjects\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keep your job options open and don\u2019t ditch science when choosing next year\u2019s school subjects - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thousands of Year 10 students are in the process of choosing subjects for their final years of school and half will probably choose to ditch\u00a0science. 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