Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Abstract

Students have been reported to have stereotypical views of scientists as middle-aged white men in lab coats. We argue that a way to provide students with a more realistic view of scientists and their work is to provide them with the opportunity to interact with scientists during short, discussion-based sessions. For that reason, 20 scientists from 8 professional areas were asked to share their experiences of becoming and being a scientist, in short sessions with groups of 7–8 students. The student sample consisted of 223 students between 13 and 15 years. Student and scientist questionnaires were used before and after the sessions to assess students’ views of scientists and their work, and scientists’ experiences of interacting with students. The pre-session questionnaires revealed that students considered scientists as ‘boring’ and ‘nerdy’ whereas after the sessions students focused extensively on how ‘normal’ the scientists appeared to be. The face-to-face interactions with scientists allowed students to view scientists as approachable and normal people, and to begin to understand the range of scientific areas and careers that exist. Scientists viewed the scientist–student interactions as a vehicle for science communication. Implications discussed include the need for future training courses to focus on developing science communicators’ questioning and interaction skills for effective interactions with students.

Keywords:

• Secondary education
• Views of scientists
• Scientist–student interactions
• LifeLab
• Scientists’ views of public engagement

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the students, their teachers and the scientists who made this study possible. We would also like to thank the LifeLab team and Professors Mark Hanson, Hazel Inskip and Keith Godfrey. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This study was funded by the Primary Science Teaching Trust and the EPSRC and supported by grants from the Medical Research Council, Garfield Weston Foundation, NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.