Sean Perera

PhD Candidate, Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS)

The Australian National University

How would you see yourself doing science? Would it be in a white lab coat surrounded by fuming beakers and a blackboard crowded with diagrams and formulae in the background? It seems difficult to picture science as part of our daily lives; something we all share and contribute to; something that we can all do. This was exactly what staff from the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS) here at ANU, hoped to communicate through the Creative Science Teaching Using Simple Materials workshop at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Sri Lanka in November last year.

This workshop was an ideal opportunity for science educators from Sri Lanka, to be part of the many international science communication endeavours that are conducted by Prof. Susan Stocklmayer (Director CPAS) and Prof. Michael Gore (Adjunct Professor, CPAS and Foundation Director of Questacon). CPAS which is also a Centre for the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, strongly advocates the need to generate scientific awareness in the general public by building upon people's prior knowledge and relating to concepts and imagery that they are familiar with.

Workshop participants attempt at modelling molecules with balloons.

The 66 science teachers who attended the workshop fashioned coloured balloons to model shapes of molecules, created clouds inside plastic soda bottles, had fun with mirrors and used styrofoam cups, clothes hangers and string to produce funny sounds. While the teachers did science, through a host of similar activities, they experienced the need for science to be strongly grounded on a social context familiar to the learner.

Sue explained that the reason most scientific knowledge, which students receive in classrooms, is not retained and becomes redundant over time, is because it does not relate to the daily life of the learner and is only directed at passing examinations. By asking the participants to link scientific ideas in a concept-map, she demonstrated how each learner as an individual constructs a unique knowledge base upon which new knowledge is constructed, thus stressing the need for teachers to relate differently to different learners.

Dr. Nobel Jayasuriya (centre) delivering the welcome address while Prof. Susan Stocklmayer (left) and Prof. Michael Gore look on.

Mike presented his internationally acclaimed science show on Archimedes and the Buoyancy Principle, where he colourfully narrated some interesting accounts from nautical history. This method of communicating science through stories was appreciated by the participants and acknowledged in their feedback. The heads of many science education institutes who were present at the workshop expressed the need to continue such efforts. The same sentiments were echoed by NSF's chairperson, Prof. Srimali Fernando, who expressed a strong interest for CPAS to embark on a collaboration to improve science communication in Sri Lanka.