It’s an annual occurrence in Biology, as regular as clockwork…
At the start of a new academic year pupils from Year 12 land in our laboratories keen and raring to go, determined to get their teeth into the physiology, the dissections and the experiments. As the year progresses, they start to attempt some A Level questions, learn the precision of detail and the terminology required to excel at this level; meanwhile we provide fish gills, locusts, hearts and lungs.
Then the moment arrives when we introduce the ‘essay question’. In theory, this is not a surprise, we haven’t hidden this requirement of the course. Up front and open, we have been talking about it at Year 10 Taster sessions, Sixth Form Options Evenings, Year 11 Insight Days, but it appears that this has all fallen on deaf ears; in short, the essay should not come as a shock, but it does, every single year. Looks of wide-eyed horror, sharp intakes of breath, the hissed ‘why on earth do we have to write an essay in a science?’
The essay in the Biology A Level examination is a dream for a well-prepared candidate. A choice of two titles, an opportunity to lay out your stall: this is what I have learned, this is my understanding of it. The essay allows pupils to demonstrate an holistic approach to the discipline, an ability to write clearly, succinctly, and accurately. It demands more than mere recall: candidates are asked to explain the importance of their chosen areas of biology, they need to appreciate the why’s and wherefores as well as the what’s.
Scientific writing is an essential skill that many of our pupils will need beyond the classroom. Practising scientists write. From research proposals, through funding bids, to publication of results and peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, scientists need to be able to express their work. Scientific careers range from the stereotypical white-coated, laboratory-inhabiting biochemists to intellectual property counsels, to health PR professionals, to journalists in the popular media. Audiences vary, both depending on the career path chosen and the stage in that career. One key skill that all scientists need is an ability to engage with their audiences, to disseminate their work, or that of others. Sainani (of Stanford University) tells us that ‘in science, research is king, and it’s important,’ but she recognises that writing must, consequently, be queen and that ‘over the past decade universities have started to pay more attention to the ‘soft skills’ that scientists also need’. Information needs to be carefully structured, stories told, conceptual links highlighted, but above all the purpose of the writing needs to be crystal clear. Scientific writing is a skill apart from the essays our pupils have written for their Arts and Humanities courses: information needs to be unequivocal; conclusions must withstand the toughest of scrutiny; flowery adjectives have no place – here is the information and these are the implications – no ifs, no buts, no room for personal opinion, and above all no sensationalism.
I hope that, by the time Year 13 leave our laboratories, they have an appreciation of the skill of scientific writing. I hope that they have learned the value of a good plan, the value of only including information that can be expressed accurately and with confidence, the value of clear English and the inclusion of terminology suitable for their audience. Science has become an integral part of society, discussed in a myriad of forums by individuals and groups with a wide variety of scientific understanding. The ability to distil and condense complex research to a comprehensible level for the lay person is increasingly important. The requirement to write scientific essays is not a new phenomenon: Nijhuis reminds us in her book, The Science Writers’ Essay Handbook, that the traditional essay format arose in the 17th Century, at around the same time as the traditional scientific method took root. Scientific essay writing has remained an integral skill, relied upon by eminent thinkers such as Darwin outlining his theories in On The Origin of Species. There is something intriguing about the juxtaposition of utilising a centuries old practice to describe cutting-edge disciplines. I hope that our pupils will take full advantage of the opportunities universities are increasingly providing for science undergraduates to hone their ‘soft’ skills: learning to write engagingly and with flair, can only make them better scientists.
by Mrs Emily Akass, Teacher of Biology, Portsmouth High School, GDST