Examination of Witnesses (Questions 200
- 206)
TUESDAY 19 MARCH 2002
JOEL BROWN,
LEXI BOYCE,
MARK TOWERS,
SAM FORD
AND KARL
STRINGER
200. How often?
(Mark Towers) I am actively interested in science
and always have been. I watch programmes such as Horizon
and documentaries. I read the New Scientist. But that is
not everybody's thing because some people are not that interested
in science itself. If there is one thing which really interests
me, I will go out and look for more information on it.
201. Do teachers encourage you to do that? Let
me ask the others this. Do teachers encourage you to go and read
other articles? Do you read the New Scientist?
(Karl Stringer) I think students are more likely to
be encouraged to consolidate what they have been doing in class
so they can pass the exam. They are really not concerned with
what you do outside the class in science. That is the general
impression I get.
(Sam Ford) I was never encouraged to do research for
GCSE and I do not do science now. I do still find some science
interesting but I only do obviously what interests me and the
rest I do not find interesting, which is why I did not do science
A-level.
202. And you?
(Lexi Boyce) What was the question? Sorry!
203. Do teachers encourage you to go and do
other reading outside the classroom curriculum?
(Lexi Boyce) No, not really. Mainly it is learning.
204. So science stops at the classroom door?
(Lexi Boyce) I am not carrying on science because
I do not want to do it after GCSE but I am very interested in
science things and I do read newspapers and the New Scientist.
My mother works for a publishing company which publishes science
books, so I read a lot of what she does because I copy edit. So
I am very interested but because of the way it was taught at GCSE
it did not interest me at all, so I did not want to carry it on.
If in GCSE science you could learn—as well as, obviously,
the background facts that everybody needs to know about it—things
which interest you and different topics and things to do with
ethics, then I think a lot more people would carry on. I probably
would have carried on if it was more the things you read in the
New Scientist.
205. Finally?
(Joel Brown) Hopefully I am not the only doctor in
the hall. My reason for studying science is not to gather knowledge,
I want to get the ground knowledge so when I move on to medical
school I will have some idea. Yes, I do read, I read the British
Medical Journal, I read other scientific journals and get
involved and see the news and get views from other people, doctors
and other scientists around.
206. Do any of you have role models, somebody
you look up to besides David Beckham, if you are interested in
football? Is there anybody in science you look up to?
(Joel Brown) Einstein.
Chairman: He is not around much any more! Does
anybody else have anybody in particular who stimulates them in
science. No? Okay, thank you very much.
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