Teaching science, naming giants and the large hadron collider

In today’s excellent Guardian article by Tim Radford, he talks about the Shell research which looks at re-engaging kids in science learning, as there seems to be a sharp drop off of in their interest at about 14-16 years old.

With the BBC doing some great work publicising Big Bang day and people getting really involved in it – it makes sense to talk about science in schools right now. (Interestingly Mr R, even today how many people (let alone kids) would know the names of Max Planck or Werner Heisenberg – arguably the forefathers of the theory that has led to the Large Hadron Collider and all of this global hullabaloo?)

While it is only respectful to acknowledge the shoulders of the giants we stand upon (thanks Mr Newton), for a general education standpoint, the science is surely more important than the names, and there is some amazing lesson plans and free teaching resources to engage classrooms in science lessons that make no reference to Mme Curie, Isaac Newton, Einstein or anybody else.

Take a look at this stuff from the British National Space Centre, also this which helps kids (and us) understand more about quantum scale activities and of course Planet Science which is as good a science resource as you’ll find on the internet.