How to boost your students’ interest in science

Reminding students that science is part of our day-to-day lives is a good way to show them how what they learn can be applied outside the classroom. Scientists are crucial in helping us function and advance as a society. That is why it is important to help students make connections between their skills and passions and the wide range of science and technology careers that might one day interest them. Give examples of careers that are related to science—beyond the obvious examples of jobs in medicine, biology, and engineering—such as the following:

• App and video game designer
• Food or cosmetics chemist
• Sports scientist
• Science journalist
• Scientific cartoonist
• Astrobiologist (they look for life beyond Earth!)
• Etc.

This might seem like an obvious statement. After all, teachers know better than anyone how kids and teens (like all of us, really!) are more motivated to do the things that they are most interested in. With that in mind, adding humour and games to your lessons can be a good strategy for shaking up your teaching approach. The good news is that there are tons of fun activities you can do that involve science. One way to add a little variety to your lessons is to spend the first few minutes of class doing an icebreaker. For instance, you could have a competition to see who can score the most baskets with a paper ball (to introduce projectile trajectories), talk about a recent scientific discovery or an unusual scientific phenomenon, read or have a student read excerpts from a book related to science, ask trivia questions, or have students play an educational game like Solitary Reaction, in which players balance chemical equations. When students enjoy science class, their motivation to learn is sure to follow. Here are some other fun and interesting ideas to try:

• Hold debates on scientific or bioethical topics
• Go to the gym to draw connections between science and sports
• Hold a science fair where students are allowed to dress up in costumes (for elementary school students)
• Discuss the scientific principles in a sci-fi series or movie
• Organize a challenge where students complete scientific tasks or answer questions about science
• Let students tinker with recycled materials
• Etc.

The flipped classroom approach is one way to liven up class and renew student interest and engagement. With this method, students learn theoretical concepts at their own pace at home, like watching our science videos, so class time can be reserved for activities that help them integrate the material. This allows for less structured, more direct interactions with students, and you can focus your energy on hands-on activities and lab sessions at school.

Alternatively, you can start class with an experiment demonstration to pique students’ curiosity. The idea here is to do an experiment that sets up an apparent conflict or challenges an assumption, and then pivot to the related material. For example, to introduce simple machines in elementary school, you could ask the class how much weight a machine would need to lift a basket with a pulley system. Your students could then make hypotheses, test them, and try to explain why they were right or wrong. To introduce refraction in high school, you could play “What’s in my cup?” As far as the students can tell, it is just water, but when you reach into the cup, you pull out sodium polyacrylate balls (fun fact: this also works with sweet potato noodles). This surprise element will likely get students asking questions and interested in learning more.

A good way to challenge assumptions about who can be scientists is to introduce students to a wide range of inspiring scientific minds. Everyone knows about Marie Curie and Albert Einstein, but scientific and technological advances are made by people from all backgrounds and walks of life, and often in teams. Take some time during the school year to learn about women scientists, Quebec scientists, or celebrities (athletes, artists, etc.) who have studied science in parallel with their career. Here are some inspiring people to get you started:

• Boucar Diouf: Senegalese-Canadian comedian, science educator, and biologist
• Lise Meitner: Austrian physicist who cracked the code of nuclear fission
• Patricia Bath: African-American ophthalmologist and researcher who invented a probe for treating cataracts
• Xue Shifeng: Singaporean biologist who studies genetic mutations and their impact on fetal development
• Farah Alibay: Canadian aerospace engineer working at NASA
• Etc.

Every student has a different set of skills and interests. Creativity, observation, attention to detail, manual dexterity, resourcefulness, boldness, cooperation . . . All of them can be applied to the sciences! And skills, such as manual dexterity (essential in surgery) and observation (crucial in astrophysics), can be improved with time and practice. One of the reasons we go to school is precisely to learn to develop our abilities and reach our full potential. This tool can be helpful for motivating students and getting them to understand why they are learning what they are learning. It is also important to remind students that doubt is essential to science: questioning what you believe to be true is a good reflex for developing critical thinking skills.

Studying moments in history when scientific principles have been re-examined and corrected can help students demystify science and challenge their perception that it is a static entity. The scientific community actually needs to verify its own research results through the peer review process and by making sure that studies can be reproduced. Doubt helps us advance science, and skepticism is a skill that everyone can develop!