Professor wins award for improving science literacy

For his endless efforts to improve public understanding and appreciation of science and technology, University of Wisconsin–Madison chemistry professor Bassam Z. Shakhashiri will receive the 2003 AAAS award for “Public Understanding of Science and Technology.”

Since 1987, when the award was established, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which is the world’s largest general scientific organization, has annually honored one individual who has made outstanding contributions to the “popularization of science.”

To his colleagues, students and other fans, Shakhashiri embodies this award. For more than 30 years, he has presented the annual holiday science demonstration, “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri,” which now is featured nationwide on the Public Broadcasting Station. And, every year, he travels throughout the world to scientific meetings, museums, schools and shopping malls to perform a variety of science shows for audiences that include scientists, public officials, educators and children and their parents.

The goal, he says, is to get people excited about science. “Like professional sports, science involves both the players and the fans. The success of science, like that of sports, depends on spectators who understand, appreciate and follow what the players do.” He adds, “We live in a very scientific and technologically advanced age, and it’s important for people to develop an understanding and appreciation of how science and technology permeate our every day lives.”

For most of his career, Shakhashiri has fostered this science literacy among the general public. In 1981, he created the “Science is Fun!” program to bring science to kids of all ages. In 1983, he founded the UW–Madison Institute for Chemical Education and developed the multi-volume book series, Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry.
His most recent accomplishment: the creation of the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy, which strives to promote literacy among the public in science, mathematics and technology, as well as attract future generations of researchers and educators to scientific fields.

Shakhashiri is also credited for rebuilding and expanding key programming and funding activities in science education at the National Science Foundation, where he was the assistant director for science and engineering education from 1984 to 1990.

To encourage enthusiasm for science, Shakhashiri says he engages his audiences in a series of astonishing science experiments. But, he is quick to point out that he does more than simply astonish – he explains what happens!

“First I get their attention. Then I get them involved in making observations and connecting what they’re experiencing with what they already know,” he says. By doing this, he says the audience begins to formulate questions and seek answers – all part of the scientific process. At the end of the demonstrations, the science fans, he says, “walk away as better learners.”

Shakhashiri, who holds the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea, says that the award from AAAS “recognizes the hard work of my group and associates, who are engaged in furthering science literacy. It reflects well on the environment at UW–Madison, which promotes an appreciation of science among the public at large.”

Note: This year’s holiday demonstrations will be held on Saturday, Dec. 7, and Sunday, Dec. 8. Although no tickets to these free presentations remain, science enthusiasts in Wisconsin can catch the shows on Wisconsin Public Television on Wednesday, Dec. 25, at 4 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 29, at 8 a.m. For viewers in other areas, please check your local television listings.