Meet the scientist: the value of short interactions between scientists and secondary school students

Secondary aged students’ understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge and practices varies, and is often characterised as ‘unsophisticated’. What is more, widely held stereotypes of scientists as middle-aged white men in lab coats are also reported to dominate students’ views of scientists and their work. Even though currently there is extensive research evidence on students’ understanding about science and ways to improve it, these are restricted to ‘school science’ and do not provide students with any insight of scientists and ‘science-inthe-making’. We argue that a way to provide students with a more informed view of scientists and their work is to provide them with the opportunity to learn about science in an authentic science environment from practicing scientists. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the value of such student-scientist interactions. For that reason, 20 scientists from 8 different professional areas were asked to each share their experiences of becoming and being a scientist in short 20-minute sessions, with groups of 7-8 students. The student sample consisted of 180 Year 9 students (14-15 years old) and 43 Year 8 students (13-14 years old). Student and scientist questionnaires were used before and after the ‘Meet the Scientist’ 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 their ‘Meet the Scientist’ sessions they 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. The student-scientist interactions were also valuable for the scientists, who saw this opportunity as a vehicle for science communication.