Thank you.
I truly appreciate the opportunity to come and talk with you today. I'm going to come at it slightly differently. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the programs of Let's Talk Science, but I'm thrilled to take questions on them a little later.
I'm going to come at it from the perspective of my experiences over the last 20 years as a social entrepreneur who's been playing in the pre-kindergarten to grade 12 space, and I have to say that when I was listening earlier, I wanted to say something then.
I'll go through this so you'll have a little perspective of where I'm coming from, and I do look forward to questions later.
I've spent the last 20 years of my career working to help ensure that Canadian youth are able to thrive in this country, enjoy a high quality of life, and contribute as engaged citizens.
I was trained as a research scientist. I have a Ph.D. in physiology, but I didn't stay at the bench. During my science training, however, I gained the skills and the attributes that I needed to found an organization and continue to run it to this day.
My journey started about 20 years ago when I started Let's Talk Science as a small volunteer outreach program out of the University of Western Ontario, now Western University, during the economic recession of the early nineties. If you recall, back at that point the granting councils were made quite vulnerable by financial decisions that cut back science and technology research funding quite a bit.
I was a graduate student at the time. I was serving on a number of committees at the university when the sheer panic came through the research community that people didn't understand what research was about and didn't understand the value of science and technology. At that point, it was basic science versus applied, and now it's termed foundational and translational.
As a grad student I thought there was an opportunity to do something about it, because I believed very deeply that research was a cornerstone of Canada's economy and Canada's future. I started a little project with about six grad students back in 1991 and I stayed with it. We now have partnerships with 36 universities and colleges, work with about 3,000 volunteers across the country, reach hundreds of thousands of young people every year, have trained teachers, have done a considerable amount of research into the impact of what we do, and we began to start very early with a program that we offer called Wings of Discovery that's used in child care centres.
Since the launch, we've reached well over 2.5 million young people with our programs, most of which are delivered by volunteers. I think we've mobilized at least 10,000 unique individuals; the majority of them are university and college students, principal investigators, and industry professionals. I'd be happy to come back to talk to you about that later.
We've trained about 30,000 teachers and early childhood educators. We've created quite a lot of learning materials that are used from coast to coast; despite the fact that it's all jurisdictional domains here, with fifteen education systems, we've been able to create programs and materials that fit right across the country. We've also done quite a lot of research.
I'm here today to talk about four lessons and learnings that I've reflected on. I like to wonder a lot when I do my work. I hope it will help you with your report.
I'll start by saying that when I talk about science, I'm using the word really broadly. It's life and physical sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, sometimes called STEM. I like to say science, because a lot of people think I talk about trees when I talk about STEM.
The first thing is that I really do believe that science learning underpins the talent development needed for the 21st century, and if your report can build a connection with the creative economy, I think you can go a long way in helping to dispel the myths that science is not necessarily underpinning much of the talent that is needed; in fact, it's a creative human activity that leads to our understanding of the world and it underpins all the critical global issues that we face today, but many people don't see it. They don't see the horizontal integrator role that science, technology, engineering, and math play.
It's also used by the person who fixes your cellphone, by your doctor, by your orthopedic surgeon, by electricians, farmers, and hairstylists.
Science shouldn't be equated with research laboratories, but it should be equated with jobs when you're working on this report. That will go a long way to helping perceptions. Science learning prepares people for high-demand occupations, but it also prepares people for the lower-skill jobs, which don't look the same as they did a generation ago.
Unfortunately, most young people don't realize how many doors science can open or close, and they drop it quite early, especially chemistry and physics, yet the number of jobs that require college training or skilled trades training with a science component outstrip those that you get in a university pathway. We need to do more to promote the value of science learning for all jobs, because too many young people are simply closing the doors very early because they don't complete the programs they need.
It's that particular fact that inspired FedDev Ontario last year to launch its youth STEM initiative. With an investment from that agency, Let's Talk Science has been able to transform how we work. We've been tackling the issue in new ways across southern Ontario. We're working with kids, teachers, post-secondary universities and colleges, industry, aboriginal communities, other not-for-profits, and both levels of government to offer programs focused on building the talent pipeline.
My second message is that talent development starts in the sandbox. It demands a long-term vision that's implemented with patience and with consistency. Too many discussions on talent focus of the generation of Ph.D.s, and we're starting to see that recent investments are resulting in more people pursuing graduate studies. However, for every 143 students who graduate from high school, only one is going to end up with a Ph.D. in a science discipline.
Just imagine what we can do if we bring that same focused thinking to the issue a lot earlier in the system. We can fill the skills gap. We can't let up at the post-secondary level, but we need to get a bigger pool from which to draw. In fact, Let's Talk Science has been working with NSERC, CIHR, and CFI, because they also understand that we have to have a bigger talent pool in order to even get to the Ph.D. level.
We need to scale the effort to ensure that we're not leaving anybody behind. Let's Talk Science starts in a sandbox with programs for child care centres. We've had some really interesting stories coming out of the aboriginal head start sites on reserve. We've been shocked at the uptake by that community with some of our early science programs for young children.
Once that interest is sparked early on, we have to nurture it throughout kindergarten right through to grade 12. We need to make better connections to jobs all along the way. The effort won't be wasted, because jobs in every field benefit from analytical, curious, and critical thinkers.
My third point is that what gets measured gets attention. Never have I realized that so much as this year, when we've undertaken a benchmarking study that will be released in May. It's looking at the progression of science learners in elementary, high school, and post-secondary, both university and college, and connecting it to the job forecast, working with HRSDC and the sector council to see where those job forecasts are.
What we've learned is that because there is a lack of consistent reporting and tracking across the country, it's very difficult to gather the data and give you a good picture of what's happening. Without easy access to the data, we can't have a good grasp of what's actually happening.
My last point is that Canada is the only developed country that doesn't have a national education ministry or a secretary of state for learning or for education. There is no formal vehicle that regularly convenes all the stakeholders or is even positioned to drive a national vision on learning or education.
I spoke a little bit earlier about the attempts of Let's Talk Science to fill that void as it relates to science learning. We work formally with seven ministries of education and seven teachers' associations on our newest program, called CurioCity, which is a blended web-based program for grades 8 to 12. It has been the first vehicle that has allowed us to convene a larger stakeholder group, with many ministries wanting to be at the same table to talk.
For large-scale success and to not leave anyone behind, we really can't just keep taking a regional focus; we have to get to the point where we're talking a national vision. In fact, in countries that can implement a national vision, we see spectacular growth. In Canada, the proportion of undergrad students who pursue science and engineering degrees has been sitting pretty stagnant at around 20%-25% for decades, whereas China has more than 50% of its undergraduates in science and engineering disciplines. I'm working on a paper looking at science learning in Canada versus China, and we're seeing this with pretty reliable numbers. It's interesting; it's different in China, because the engineering degree is almost the de facto bachelor-level degree.
In conclusion, I want to leave you with the fact that science learning really does matter for 21st century skills. We need to start early, and we need to make a strong national effort that can be measured. If we don't, we will just continue to slip behind.
The highest-demand jobs in a creative economy require people with the skills and knowledge that are developed by science learning. Many jobs that are perceived to require low skills have really been transformed and require science. All jobs benefit from people who are analytical and curious. They're the very qualities that drive innovation.
I want to leave with you the idea that Let's Talk Science is here to help. We've been doing this for 20 years and would love to bring the success to bear that we have learned at many of the regional levels to get to the next level for Canada's future.
Thank you.
