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1. What made you decide to participate in the "High-School Seminars in Japan" program?
The British Council sent me details of its high-school seminar programme last year. I thought it was an excellent idea for high-school students to be able to listen to a scientist enthusing about his research topic. It's also good for students to see that there are important unsolved problems in science, which they may be able to tackle as the future generation of scientists.
My research field of molecular motors is well suited for this. It's an exciting topic, where physics meets biology. Science students cover basic physics and cell biology as quite separate subjects in their school work. To understand molecular motors, we cross the traditional boundary between the two sciences and use physics to study a fundamental problem in biology. It's also a field where both Japanese and British scientists have made important contributions.
So, I hoped to stimulate young minds and to promote Anglo-Japanese co-operation. I also thought it would be very interesting to visit a Japanese school and to meet some of the pupils and teachers.
2. Did you have any experience in making a lecture for K-12 students in your home country? If so, could you give us a brief outline?
For several years, I organised a programme of evening lectures for local schoolchildren in the Physics Teachers' Centre in my home university. That included a lecture about my own research in biophysics. I've also been a member of our physics lecturing team for the British Association of Young Scientists.
3. To which parts did you pay the greatest attention in preparing and/or giving the seminar?
Preparing the seminar took about two weeks. Instead of lecture demonstrations (which wouldn't be practical in my field), I looked for high-quality computer graphics to illustrate the scientific points in the seminar. Videos and animations are especially useful. One good source was a CD-ROM that's included with a new textbook on cell biology. I also took clips from another CD-ROM on animal motion and tracked down more good material on the internet. I used QuickTime Pro to edit the clips and saved them as .avi files for use in PowerPoint on a PC.
I selected about 40 video clips and 40 jpeg images to build up a good 'story' about molecular motors, split up into four main parts plus an introduction and conclusions. This is enough material for 40 PowerPoint slides for a one-hour seminar containing plenty of action to maintain the students' interest.
 My first high-school seminar was more like a research seminar, explaining part of my own work. However, this involves some difficult concepts, which the students found hard to understand. So, I rewrote the seminar as a more general review of the field as a whole. That worked much better. The talk is mainly descriptive, with no maths or tricky physical arguments. In physical terms, it's rather superficial, but it stimulated some very good questions from the students.
I found useful information on the science syllabuses for Japanese schools at http://www2.jasso.go.jp/examination/efjuafis_syllabus_e.html . During the talk, I reminded the students of topics that they'd met. This helped build a bridge between their school science and my research.
4. Could you tell us about your impression from participating in the program?
I think it does a great job in showing high-school students the excitement of doing scientific research. I'm very pleased to have made a contribution and hope to give my seminar again in the future.
5. Was it meaningful for your research activities?
Yes: there are many research groups in Japan working on molecular motors, so it may help them to attract bright young scientists into the field.
Writing the review seminar also helped me to see my research in the context of the field as a whole. I'll probably give the seminar to English schoolchildren in the future, and many of the PowerPoint slides will be useful in research talks.
6. In what ways do you think the audience benefited from the program?
 It stimulated their interest and imagination and gave them a glimpse of the excitement of scientific research. They could see that the science they learn in school is actually used in current research. However, they learnt that we don't know everything, so there are opportunities for them to do research in the future. They saw that physics can be applied to biology by physicists and biologists working together. They also saw that science is very much about international collaboration.
7. Could you give some overall advice or comments to future participants in the new JSPS program?
My advice is to take part if you possibly can. The preparation requires some time, but it's well worth it. You have the chance to explain your research field to an attentive audience of bright, young, science students. It's a great pleasure to meet them and their teachers. And you can also probably use your talk again when you get back home.
I wish the JSPS high-school seminar programme every success. |
