THE ICARUS PROJECT – WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE?

Participation in sciences in schools and universities is diminishing. Students often do not understand the impact and relevance of science upon their lives, with many disengaged from traditional methods of science teaching. Icarus is an 18 months long theatre programme, which was developed to support the delivery of the 21st century Science Curriculum in Secondary Education in the UK. We asked young people to consider ethical and moral questions posed by the scientific advances in genetics. By doing so, we attempted to employ performative practices to contribute to a more pluralistic approach to teaching and learning about science, ultimately aiming to research the impact that theatre could have on young people’s engagement with complex scientific questions. Our main goals were (i) to engage and stimulate ethical discussion; (ii) to demonstrate the relevance of science to young people’s lives; and (iii) to make learning about both scientific facts and social consequences accessible to young people. The Icarus project was performed in National Science & Technology Week 2007 to 800 school children aged 13-16 from 12 diverse schools across Nottinghamshire, UK. We conducted the pre-show questionnaires to get an understanding of the level of the knowledge students had about stem cell technology, and then the post-show evaluation of the facts gained. The outcomes of the project suggest that the majority of respondents (science teachers and pupils) agreed that theatre is an effective way of communicating and explaining ideas about science, ethics and morality. In the evaluation, young people expressed an enthusiasm for using the medium of theatre to help them engage in the understanding of scientific knowledge and concepts.