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The Compass: The Public Misunderstanding of Science: Back to school

Factual

Pupils in spacesuits

03/11/2021 GMT

Back to school

The Public Misunderstanding of Science

BBC World Service - The Compass, The Public Misunderstanding of Science, Back to school

How space can help transform science education for the next generation

How space can help transform science education for the next generation to better understand the world around them.

Does the misunderstanding of science begin in schools? Science journalist and former BBC Science correspondent, Sue Nelson visits the UK’s National Space Centre to discover how space is being used to entice children into studying science. She also speaks to teachers around the world about the challenges of ensuring the next generation better understand the scientific and technological world around them.

Presenter: Sue Nelson
Producer: Richard Hollingham

(Photo: Pupils of the Ecole Vivalys elementary school, wearing spacesuits costumes for their project Mission to Mars. Credit: Stefan Wermuth/Getty Images)

The Compass: The Public Misunderstanding of Science

Why have so many people given up on science?

Anti-vaxxers, flat Earthers, 5G arsonists and climate change deniers – why have so many people given up on science and where are governments, scientists and the media going wrong?

Although surveys reveal scientists are trusted – with many taking centre stage during the Covid-19 pandemic – science is often perceived as the domain of ‘experts’, the process of science is misunderstood, and scientific evidence is likened to belief.

To investigate how we can build a more scientifically literate planet – and why that might be a good idea – science journalist and former BBC Science Correspondent, Sue Nelson, teams-up with reporters in Sierra Leone, the Netherlands, and the United States.

We discover how drama and music are being used in the fight against Ebola, how space can help transform science education and why regret is a powerful weapon during vaccination campaigns. Sue also hears why science communication sometimes fails, how issues like climate change have become politicised, discovers how to reason with conspiracy theorists and why it’s perfectly okay to maintain a healthy scepticism about scientific and technological advance.

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