Start Primary School
This year's PISA results were shocking. Norwegian 15-year-olds perform weaker in mathematics and science, and more and more lack basic competence in the subjects.
Debate: Safina de Klerk, Vice President of NITO. The article was published in Klassekampen on Wednesday 16 September.
For AS Norway, this is serious. Companies already lack engineers and technologists. At the same time, we must digitalise society, implement the energy transition, build infrastructure and develop the technology we will live off in the future.
If we want to understand why young people drop out of science subjects, we need to talk about ten-year-olds. Because dropout begins when children form a perception that they are "bad at maths". When science goes from being questions about why the sky is blue, how an engine works and what the body is made of, to becoming something to remember for a test.
Also read: "We need stronger political measures to strengthen learning in science and mathematics"
The British ASPIRES research has followed young people from the age of ten and into adulthood. It shows how early notions of science subjects and who "fits in" with them are formed. The time between ten and 14 years is crucial.
Through many years at science centers, I have seen what can happen when children get science subjects in their hands. When they build, program, experiment, measure, fail and try again. Suddenly, mathematics is not just a calculation, but the tool they need to make the construction stand.
This is play and exploration that create the basis for learning. Knowledge must be built through teaching that creates curiosity, mastery and relevance.
The science initiative must start in primary school. We need more teachers with solid subject competence in mathematics and science, more room for practical and exploratory teaching. We must make use of science centres, Newton rooms, business and other learning arenas that can allow children to encounter the natural sciences in other ways than just the classroom.
In an age of artificial intelligence, energy transition, climate challenges, disinformation and rapid technological development, we need people who can understand numbers, assess documentation and ask good questions, regardless of which profession they choose.
