Australia needs to do more to expose high school students to the "awesomeness" of science to help them make judgements on future challenges like climate change based on more than just emotion, chief scientist Professor Ian Chubb says.
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A summer school style program aiming to do just that, the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF), was given a boost on Wednesday when multifaceted company Lockheed Martin, known for everything from arms production to ICT, committed $375,000 to the forum over the next three years.
Professor Chubb praised the forum for taking year 11 students from all over Australia in its 30-year-plus history, but with just 400 students benefiting from the program each year he said more had to be done to expose students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
"Its proper use is the solution to a lot of the world's future problems," he told the Canberra Times.
"[But] it can also be misused so you've got to get people who understand the ethics of science, the practice of science, the methods of science and you've got to get more of the community understanding how good science works… so they will be able to make a judgement about what's good and bad, right and wrong."
Professor Chubb said the government should commit to programs like NYSF but industry also needed to recognise its role.
"Most of the rest of the world has already decided that a lot of the future will depend on the knowledge of and application of STEM… [they're] taking steps to encourage more people into stem… the danger is that we will fall behind," he said.
"Education isn't the exclusive domain of those that teach and learn it's also about what the community thinks and the employers think so getting that blend right is important."
Lockheed Martin Australia chief executive Raydon Gates said the company was concerned people weren't attracted to STEM, skills needed for the world and the company's future with it currently employing 60,000 STEM specialists worldwide.
NYSF director Damien Pearce said Lockheed Martin's commitment, the largest sum in the forum's history, was given careful consideration and took a year of negotiating.
"They're into technology… we make sure the reasons for sponsorship are a good fit," he said.
"If they're expectation was they wanted everyone to go directly into defence science and build bombs well that's not palatable, but when they're interested in the pipeline of their company and their company is not just defence… that's appropriate."
Mr Pearce said the funding would make the forum sustainable with many corporations cutting back their annual support following the global financial crisis.
"We've had a lot of public rhetoric about the importance of science but there hasn't been a real lot of money supporting that," he said.
Mr Pearce said he would like to see a greater commitment from government with the forum's corporate and government supporters ranging from about $12,000 to $60,000 annually.
He hopes with greater funding the program could be expanded to reach more young people.
Mr Gates said Lockheed Martin's previous partnerships had been largely community-based offering a mix of financial and in-kind support.
Although the corporation's broad reach covers everything from space exploration to renewable energy to jetfighters, Mr Gates said in Australia it was largely driven in the defence and commercial ICT worlds.
