Einstein-First for young physics students: PM’s science prize winners

Many children think black holes and time warps are science fiction, but a new schools program aims to change that.

“Teachers find it very scary but the kids take it in their stride,” says Einstein-First co-founder David Blair of introducing modern physics early in primary school.

A year ago David Blair and Susan Scott shared in the 2020 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for their part in the international research effort that discovered gravitational waves.

Since then they have stepped up their push for schoolchildren to get a better science education in order to create the skills Australia needs and help ensure that a new generation of scientists is ready to step into their shoes.

Professor Blair, who is director of the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre in Western Australia, and Professor Scott, a physicist at the Australian National University, believe that children can and should begin learning concepts of modern physics – such as curved space, black holes and quantum entanglement – in primary school.

“Teachers find it very scary but the kids take it in their stride,” Professor Blair said.

They are both on the board of Einstein-First, a group founded by Professor Blair in 2013 that now teaches modern physics in 24 WA schools, and wants to expand to the rest of Australia.

Professor Blair and Professor Scott said children currently reached the end of their compulsory science education in year 10 without learning any modern physics – the discoveries that began with the work of Albert Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century. In school they learn nothing about relativity, quantum mechanics or how photons of light interact with matter.

This means they have no basis for understanding how a computer chip – the item that underpins the modern economy – works. It also means they have little insight into why carbon dioxide heats the atmosphere. It’s because carbon dioxide molecules absorb photons in the infra-red part of the spectrum, trapping the energy and preventing it escaping into space.

Because they have not been taught modern physics, many children also don’t know that things they hear about – such as black holes and time warps – are not science fiction. They are science fact.

Professor Scott said it made a difference when children were first exposed to concepts such as Einstein’s theory of relativity. “Everything is easier to get a little bit of a grip on when you’re very young,” she said.

Professor Blair said the goal of Einstein-First was to ensure that every child, when they reached the last compulsory year of science education in year 10, had a positive attitude to science.

“When they’re seven, they’re really enthusiastic about science. By the time they’re 14, they’ve decided that school science is boring. And that’s just the time that you would like them to think science is exciting and there are great career opportunities,” he said.

The Einstein-First program starts in year 3 using models and toys. Children learn that the world is made of atoms. When the program finishes in year 10, students have learnt about the curved space-time of Einstein’s theory of gravity, how matter is equivalent to energy, and how quantum mechanics governs the sub atomic world. “The school system needs to change so that we can equip our young people with the sort of modern concepts they’re going to need for their future,” Professor Scott said.

Or course, teachers need training to teach the Einstein-First course, and this currently takes place at the University of Western Australia. But the group is now preparing to train teachers online so it can be spread to many more schools. “The main thing for this project is training teachers to be able to teach this stuff,” Professor Blair said.

The program has also been found to even up the science learning of girls and boys. Girls start the program with weaker knowledge but end up on par. And it has also been found to appeal to less academic students.

Professor Blair quotes one teacher as saying: “The notable thing about the Einsteinian physics lessons is that the students are fully engaged. Disruption is rare and students with learning difficulties are practically indistinguishable from mainstream students. Girls benefit especially from the way the program is presented with group learning and activities.”

The 2021 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science will be announced on November 3.