OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.65 2005-11
|
INDEX
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| |
|
Children are turning their backs on
science. Even when they are interested, that interest does not
grow into real passion and ambition
|
 |
| The finale of a science show. Large balloons float above the heads of people in the venue. They experience the "weight of air" by touching the balloons.
Staged with assistance from TEPIA (The Machine Industry Memorial Foundation) |
|
| Experiments involving giant air cannons are an indispensable part of any science show in a large hall. The diameter of hole is about one-third the height of the box. The box is filled with incense smoke, and when the sides are struck with both hands a ring of smoke emerges. |
There
is a concern that children today are turning their backs on science. What are
your thoughts?
I
wonder what this notion that children are turning away from science means. Does
it mean that there has been a decline in the number of students taking physics,
biology and chemistry? If it means that children are no longer interested in
science, I'd have to disagree. Even children who spend all their spare time playing
video games or watching DVDs love to participate in experiments.
Yet I sense that there has been a decline in the number of children
who choose careers in science. When we were children, televisions had just
started to appear in people's homes. We had a perception that science and technology
were enriching our lives. When I was in kindergarten, I tried to look into
the back of our television to see how it produced the pictures. I thought there
were people inside. A little later the "Astroboy" cartoon series
began. That had a huge impact.
Televisions
still had vacuum tubes. You had to wait for the picture to appear after switching
on the set. Astroboy was soon joined by many other super-heroes, including
Iron Man 28 and Eight Man.
It was around that time that I started to become attracted to science
and technology. I wanted to become an engineer so that I could contribute to
science and technology.
We had naive ideas about the future that science was expected to
create. We thought that we'd just push a button and dinner would appear. Cars
would fly, and there'd be space travel and robots. Japan's high-growth period
and pollution problems dragged us back to reality. Engineers began to lose
their prestige, and the service industries and mass media became more fashionable.
The economic bubble was even worse. That started a few years after
I joined Olympus. More and more engineering graduates were deciding to work
for banks and securities firms rather than manufacturers. Yet new value is
only created when manufacturers make things.
Children answer questions about their future according to their
perceptions of the current mood of the world. Science seems to have lost its
attractiveness as a career.
People prefer instant success to success through sustained effort.
When we were young, the ability to work long and hard at unglamorous tasks
was considered a virtue. Science requires steady effort. Society today tends
to belittle that quality. But as you say, children certainly haven't lost their
interest in science. Children become totally absorbed in Waku Waku Project
experiments. Their underlying fascination with science has not changed, but
they no longer see science as a personal goal. I think the way we motivate
children is extremely important.
The environment in which children live has changed dramatically.
Instead of making things to play with, they buy things to play with. Their
toys are sophisticated products, such as radio controlled cars, video games
and DVDs. The companies that make these things have targeted children perfectly,
and the children are simply swallowed up. Children no longer have opportunities
to experience things for themselves, such as the phenomena of life or the properties
of matter. So their interest does not grow.
Video games are not good. They provide only a virtual experience.
The starting point for science is an encounter with a phenomenon. Video games
are not real physics.
They're fun, but they're fictitious. Events in video games are not
governed by the laws of nature.
If we forget how experience phenomena, we lose our motivation to
become involved in science.
I think that the children of today never experience boredom. They
are given things, and they have things to do. When I was a child, I had to
think about how to amuse myself on rainy days. I had to plan my play within
certain parameters, such as staying inside a small room with just one friend,
and avoiding activities that would annoy my parents. If we wanted to have fun,
we had to produce ideas.
|
|
INDEX
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| |
  |
