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A Trium Udom student shows some of the excitement Du Pont scientists must have felt 70 years ago when they first synthesised the very same Nylon 66. — Photo courtesy of Mahidol |
 Dr Yodhathai Thebtaranonth makes his opening remarks. — Photo courtesy of Mahidol |
"When high school students want to go into college," he says, "they don’t say well I’d like to be a doctor or I’d like to be an engineer or I want to be a scientist and that is the deciding factor.
"What decides is what kind of marks they get on their entrance exam. If they get a 400 or something like that and although they like science, they’re ‘good’ enough to become a medical doctor and they go to medicine."
 Dean Amaret Bhumiratana |
Medicine, engineering and professional fields like dentistry have become the overwhelming favourites among Thai students in the science stream, says Dr Amaret. Interest and ability have very little to do with it and, as a consequence, the pure sciences come far down on their list of choices.
"I think they don’t see their career (in science) as clearly as they see medicine or engineering," explains Dr Amaret.
This, he and a determined group of Mahidol scientists are seeking to change. "The thing that we want to get through is that don’t judge your career by your entrance exam – that is bad.
"If you like new discoveries, if you like to ask new questions all the time, then being a scientist is probably more suitable than other careers like medicine."
Furthermore, he says, opportunities for scientists in Thailand are expanding.
"Previously, people thought that to become a scientist, you always had to become teachers or university professors. Recently, however, many research institutes have been set up in Thailand and students can go into science and become researchers and develop new technology," Dr Amaret says.
Changing perceptions
Changing student’s perceptions of science as a career is clearly not going to happen overnight, says Dr Amaret. "It’s still a long road ahead."
But there are things that can be done and Dr Amaret and his group of Mahidol University scientists are spearheading the effort to get science into the mainstream.
Like their counterparts at the other 24 Thai state universities, members of the Mahidol science faculty have been working closely with small groups of primary and secondary schools, giving advice and training on a regular basis.
But Mahidol has gone a step further, setting up a team of scientists which periodically travels to secondary schools throughout the country, giving lectures and demonstrations for two to three hundred students at a time.
Their latest foray was very close to home. The Mahidol team paid a visit to the nearby Phya Thai campus of Trium Udom Suksa, one of Thailand’s premier secondary schools. There, the medicine–engineering bias is still very strong and that was clearly a factor in making the trip. The Learning Post went along to see what, if any, impression Dr Amaret’s team would be able to make.
Impressive cast
 Oh, so that’s how styrofoam is made. — Photo courtesy of Mahidol |
Each lecture / demonstration focuses on a particular field of science and it is led by a prominent scientist in that field. At Trium Udom the subject was chemistry and the featured speaker was Mahidol professor Dr Yodhathai Thebtaranonth, unquestionably one of the country’s foremost scientists. He was selected as Thailand’s outstanding scientist of 1986 (an honour won by Dr Amaret in 1992) and in 1996 he won the prestigious title of ASEAN Outstanding Scientist and Technologist Award.
But impressive credentials alone are not going to keep a group of 200 Mattayom five students occupied for a full afternoon, especially a Friday afternoon with World Cup football matches in full swing. You have to be good and you have to be entertaining. A bit of charisma helps as well.
Fortunately, Dr Yodhathai fits the bill on all counts. He is informal, outspoken, and humourous while, at the same time coming across as a consummate expert in his field.
This was by no means a one-man show, however. Most of the afternoon, in fact, was in the hands of the enthusiastic group of young scientists. Some were faculty members or graduate students from Mahidol University while others were recruited from the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec).
After a short introduction from Dr Amaret, Dr Yodhathai began his opening remarks by bemoaning the fact that all the major discoveries in science seem to have foreign names associated with them. "Where are the Thai names?" he challenged the students.
 That’s a hundred-baht bill she’s burning. Because it had been treated in an alcohol and water solution, it survived to be used another day. — Photo courtesy of Mahidol |
Like Dr Amaret before him, Dr Yodhathai stressed the importance of research, no matter what field the students choose. Thailand has been notoriously weak in research and development and the country is paying a price because of it.
Dr Yodhathai says he sees little reason to take pride in the foreign-owned factories that have proliferated in Thailand in the past decade or so. While the technology may seem impressive that, too, is foreign-owned and the country gains little from it. Thailand, he says, is essentially selling its labour.
What is needed, he says, is for Thailand to develop scientists who have the understanding to develop new technologies of their own. This takes people with an innate curiousity – people who want to delve deeply into why things are the way they are. That is primarily the domain of the pure scientist, not those involved in applied sciences like medicine and engineering, he says.
Chemistry is fun
Carbon dioxide from the air causes a disappearing act.
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The afternoon activities consisted largely of demonstrations – fifteen chemistry experiments, conducted first by members of Dr Yodhathai’s team and then by student volunteers from the audience. At the end of each experiment Dr , one of the team leaders, briefly explained the chemistry involved, frequently asking the students to supply information from their own chemistry courses.
The experiments themselves were quite varied, involving inducing mysterious changes in colours and light, producing solids from liquids, heating things and burning things – a guaranteed attention-getter.
The first experiment involved pouring a bluish solution all over the back of a clean white laboratory coat worn by a student volunteer. The coat appeared to be irretrievably soiled, but within seconds the stain disappeared.
The explanation, it turned out, was that carbon dioxide from the air had combined with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in the solution to form sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). The colour change was due to the indicator thymolphthalein which is sensitive to the difference in pH between NaOH and Na2CO3.
This experiment was dramatic and painless enough to overcome any initial hesitancy the Trium Udom students might have in volunteering. Immediately, students began jostling with each other to be the first to the stage where the experiments were being conducted.
Soon the students were busy stirring solutions, shaking beakers, synthesizing compounds, and, of course, burning things. Throughout the session, however, the focus was kept on understanding why things were happening. Dr Yodhathai made certain of that, adding commentary and providing interesting insights into real-world applications of the principles under consideration.
Questions remain
 Focus Group: some are open to a science careen, but all want more information. |
The vast majority of Trium Udom students are university-bound and the school traditionally produces some of the highest scores in the university entrance exam. Was the afternoon chemistry session successful in persuading them to take a serious look at science as their chosen field of study?
Yes and no. From a focus group conducted after the demonstrations had ended, it was clear that most students thought the session was extremely worthwhile and it gave them a much clearer idea of what "doing science" actually involved. A few even indicated that they might consider a science major in university, but they wanted more information.
Most agreed that from a purely practical standpoint, they remained unsure if science was really a viable career in Thailand. They still had very little understanding of what opportunities were available. Thus, for most of these students at least, it was unlikely that they would be giving up their preference for known entities like medicine and engineering any time soon.
They also complained – from personal experience – that science is held in relatively low esteem in Thai society. When one of their classmates wins a gold medal in science at the Academic Olympics, for example, no one pays attention. But when Somluck Khamsing wins an Olympic gold in boxing, the country goes crazy.
At least these students have their priorities in order and that should give hope to Dr Amaret, Dr Yodhathai and their team of scientists.
terryfrd@ksc15.th.com |