Ep68: Aspiring to be a Scientist

January 6, 2020 in Season 5
ASPIRES2 logo.
Image credit: ASPIRES project
Science is done by scientists. But many young people don’t want to become scientists. So what factors influence young people’s choice to either study (or not study) science-related subjects at school?

The thing that thing struck us most ... was that it was not that young people weren’t finding science classes interesting

Louise Archer
Photograph of Louise Archer.
Image credit: ASPIRES project

The ASPIRES project is a multi-year study looking at the aspirations of young people towards science and science-related careers. The project is ongoing, but the findings so far already reveal a fascinating insight into the factors that influence young people’s feelings and perceptions to science subjects.

In this episode we talk about the findings from the project and how the concept of science capital can be used by those interested in engaging young people. The episode also refers to the adjacent project Enterprising Science, more details can be found here.

You can read the original report from the first five-years of the project here. To find out more about the current progress see the project website. You can also follow the ASPIRES project on Twitter @ASPIRESscience.

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