In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, our ability to emerge as a stronger nation, more competitive with our peers, will depend on many factors.  In the short-term, the stimulatory and regulatory decisions made by our State and Federal governments will be key.

In the long-term, our competitive ability will depend on our productivity, which in turn will depend on the quality of our workforce and the innovation skills of our technologists and business leaders.  Workforce quality and innovation skills are not inherited characteristics. They are the product of the education system.

Australia’s secondary educational outcomes are above average among OECD countries, but there are numerous countries that do better than us, including some non-OECD developing countries.  Improving the education system to make us more competitive takes time, planning, teacher training and massive funding.

The Federal government recognises the need to improve our education system across the spectrum of primary, secondary and tertiary education.  In the primary and secondary sectors, large amounts of money have been committed recently to rebuilding school infrastructure.  Further, the process to develop a national curriculum that will lead to higher and more uniform standards in history, English, science and mathematics is well underway.

As a professional engineer involved in science communication, I have been particularly concerned about science education.  For the past 30 years there has been a steady decline in the number of secondary school students choosing science and mathematics.

While optimistic about the improvements that might ensue from the increased funding and the design of the national curriculum, it would be inappropriate to wait patiently for these developments.  Instead, it is essential to do whatever is possible with the available resources. 

As a national body, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), of which I am a Fellow, is committed to the education of the next generation of experts.  ATSE already has an established its Extreme Science Experience program that introduces Year 10 students to the successfully commercialised technology of the annual winners of the Clunies Ross Foundation Awards.

In an effort to reach more students, ATSE is testing a program known as STELR that operates within the years 9 and 10 curriculum and has the potential to be expanded to reach all secondary students in the country.

Our approach with STELR follows the classic innovation approach – take existing technology and knowledge and transform it into a product.  The technology in this case is the pedagogy, a teaching approach known as inquiry-based learning.  A significant component of the STELR program is professional development training provided to participating teachers.

The knowledge in this case is renewable energy.  Why renewable energy?  Surveys have shown what you probably have observed yourself.  Young people are concerned about the world in which they will grow up.  Will it be physically hospitable, or will it be ravaged by the consequences of global warming?  Renewable energies are a toolbox of approaches that can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and hence mitigate global warming. 

As it happens, renewable energies are also a wonderful context for teaching some of the big ideas in science, such as the transformation and conservation of energy, one of the key concepts highlighted in the draft national science curriculum.  Importantly, students enjoy investigating the operating principles underlying wind turbines, solar panels and biofuels.

STELR is in pilot-phase testing in more than 30schools.  Depending on the availability of funding, it may be rolled out over the next several years to all interested secondary schools in the country.

The world is changing rapidly.  To maximise our national economic success, to ensure that we make the right decisions about critical issues – such as technological responses to climate change or adoption of new medical technologies based on stem cells –  we need a scientifically literate population, one trained to ask questions, evaluate the evidence and form considered opinions. 

The new national science and mathematics curriculum, coupled with programs such as STELR, will help us to achieve this goal.

In his speech to the National Academy of Sciences on 27 April this year, US President Obama listed the shortcomings in American research and development, then announced a series of challenges and funding initiatives.  Three of the key challenges he announced were:

1. Double the capacity to generate renewable energy.
2. Shift the performance of American students in maths and science from the middle of the comparable-country performance band to the top.
3. Ensure that by 2020 America will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

The Australian programs I have mentioned above, if funded, would help Australia respond to similar challenges. 

The ATSE Clunies Ross Awards will be presented in Sydney on Wednesday 20 May, followed by the Extreme Science Experience on 21 May. Dr Alan Finkel AM FTSE is an acclaimed engineer and neuroscientist and publisher of Cosmos, a popular Australian science magazine. He is Chancellor of Monash University, a Director of ATSE, Executive Publisher of Cosmos Magazine and Chair of the Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia centre.