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An unpopular image with perceptions of irrelevancy for everyday life combined with some less than inspiring teaching are causing students to question the purpose of Mathematics and Science in the classroom. A report by Universities Australia, commissioned early in 2012 by Professor Ian Chubb, highlights Australian students’ growing lack of appreciation of the relevance and role of science in their lives and and communities.

Universities Australia CEO, Dr Glenn Withers, said ‘This trend should be setting off alarm bells as it poses a risk to Australia’s future as an innovative national and an international leader in research’.

As part of this report a surveyed student stated:

‘I feel like in science and maths classes, it’s more like talking at you … When you are engaged in and doing projects, and maybe working with partners, that may be more of an engaging activity versus sitting in a room for 60 minutes and listening to someone talking at you’.

Winthrop Professors David Blair and Grady Venville with Marina Pitts , PhD candidate, at The University of Western Australia are taking up the challenge to reinvigorate science in the classroom with an innovative Physics project focused on primary school students. This project seeks to ascertain whether Year 6 students comprehend complex abstract Physics concepts like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. To this end, six in-class sessions were presented by David Blair at Rosalie Primary School covering topics such as: Connecting Space and Time; Curved Space Geometry with Balloons; and Fun with Black Holes.

The students drew triangles on balloons and traced the paths of parallel lines. They also explored the history of ideas about space from Pythagoras to Einstein, discussed the meaning of a straight line and learnt about observations of the curvature of space. To reinforce the classroom theory lessons, the students were taken on an excursion to the Gravity Discovery Centre, near Gingin. The students were given the opportunity to experience the Physics concepts that had been discussed in class, through guided interaction with the exhibits and by performing experiments from the top of the Leaning Tower of Gingin.

Finally, the students performed a play called ‘Free Float’ in which scientists such as Kepler, Newton and Einstein

– as well as modern scientists who proved Einstein’s theory of gravity – all come together with a group of students to discuss, question and criticise each other. The students rose to the challenges of this exciting approach.

This innovative program by The University of Western Australia encourages students to engage with the world of science allowing them to discover the meaning and relevance of the science that supports their lives and communities.