Mathematics and science not cool in school

Mathematics and science not cool in school - says who?

Many students in Australia don’t view science and mathematics as cool subjects, primarily because they think they are boring.

In 1995, 14% of Year 12 secondary school mathematics students studied advanced mathematics, while 37% studied elementary mathematics. Fifteen years later, in 2010, 10% were studying advanced mathematics and 50% took the easier option of elementary mathematics.

The Canberra Times reported that the Australian Mathematical Science Institute revealed that basic mathematics was growing in popularity among secondary students to the detriment of intermediate or advanced studies. This has resulted in fewer universities offering higher mathematics courses, and subsequently there are reduced graduates in mathematics. There have also been reduced teacher intakes in mathematics, which has resulted in many low-income or remote secondary schools without higher level mathematics and science teachers (and therefore courses), producing a continuous cycle of low supply, low demand, and low supply.

However, the Australian Mathematical Science Institute says that the demand for doctorate graduates in mathematics and statistics will rise by 55% by 2020 (on 2008 levels).

The challenge, says Professor Ian Chubb, chief scientist and former vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, is to make mathematics and science more attractive for students—without dumbing it down. “Making it attractive doesn’t mean making it easier,” Professor Chubb said in a presentation hosted by the Australian Mathematical Science Institute. Instead of restructuring and changing the curriculum, he advocated training teachers to create ways to make mathematics and science more relevant to students’ lives. Professor Chubb presented a report to government on the identification of ways to increase mathematics and science enrolments.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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