Nerd or Natural

As adults we often look at things quite differently to how we did as children and young people.

When I looked at science as a child and young person, I classified it as nerdy, something that didn't interest me, and something I wouldn't need in my life.

In reality though, it is in everything we do and all around us.

Listening to my teenager moan about how she hates science and my other children that love it made me look at it in a different way.

We are a very sporty family, and would be described as "Jocks" when using the old fashioned terms of "Nerd" and "Jock". But it's funny that some of my children love science; constantly read books about everything associated with science and it is one of their favourite lessons at school; but another hates it. Then there's me and my partner as adults reflecting on how we hated it at school, but find it quite interesting as adults and enjoy reading the books with the children and sharing different articles we find with them.

From the career development perspective there has been a push for many years to engage more females into science subjects and more science based roles. On the governments (www.gov.uk) breakdown of GCSE grades in the UK, the percentage of students achieving 4-4 (C-C) in combined science is at 54.7%. Although this doesn’t separate males and females, but what it does is suggest that something is going wrong? Is it the teaching, skills of the students, or perception of science playing a part?

Is it still perceived that it’s only the nerds that do/enjoy science? The “Big Bang Theory” program that has been running for 11 years would suggest that this is still the case? They would also suggest from the characters of this program that it comes naturally. For a long time the character that represented the cool and beautiful had no understanding of science.

However when I look at my football fanatic son reading about the solar system or learning how to code computers, or listen to my singing and dancing daughter getting excited about reading the children’s encyclopaedia with me at bedtime; it makes me question whether it comes naturally. A natural scientist does not also need to be a nerd, but can also be a natural jock too.

What do we do to change this in the big wide world though?

Would changing the perception of only “Nerds” liking and being good at science, help to increase the percentage of students achieving 4-4 (C-C) in the UK?

I think that it would be interesting to see what changes are made and whether perceptions are eliminated at a young age, to then revolutionize the new perceptions of what a scientist is?