A Joint Love Letter to Science

Why is science important? As a teacher – faced with the inevitable question: "what’s the point of studying science?" - I set out to discover how leading scientists, writers and science teachers would reply. The answers were varied, intriguing and sometimes just plain emotional.

I started work as a science teacher at a secondary school in London in January 2008. It marked my return to teaching after a seven year period working in television. Upon returning to the classroom, it struck me that we weren't doing much to teach the most important thing of all: that science is important.

Anyone who knows me will confirm that I wear my passion for science on my sleeve, but I don't think that's enough. Nor do I think it's enough to assume that the importance of science is somehow implicit in the courses I teach; that it will somehow seep into my students' consciousness through the sheer number of hours they spend doing so-called science at school. Having spent the last few years making films about things like particle physics and mathematics, I started to think that a film might be a useful way of addressing this.

So, in October 2008, after months spent securing funding, I started work on a film in which I planned to interview high profile scientists, writers and teachers about why they felt science was important. I also started up a blog, which I planned to use for research and as a record of my journey making the film. However, the blog very quickly took on a life of its own - people from all over the world were coming forward to contribute their answers to the question "why is science important"; and it quickly became clear that the film should really be based on the blog, not the other way round.

I completed the film in mid-March 2009 and so far the response has been positive, particularly from US teachers. However, the project still needs the support of people around the world if we are to share the message that science is important. It's an ambitious idea – to try and get people to commit to watching a half-hour film on the internet; after all, it's not just a funny clip of a cat falling into a puddle or some other meaningless "viral" that can amuse people for 30 seconds. I have concerns that the project may simply be "preaching to the choir", only reaching those people who already appreciate and understand the importance of science, and I think those concerns will only go away once the viewing figures for the film are much, much higher.

When I stared this project, my goal was to make it easier for any science teacher to answer that inevitable question, "What's the point of all this?" and I hope I have done that. The results have surpassed my best expectations – I have received nearly 100 responses to my question, from high-profile scientists and writers as well as from fellow science teachers.

How did they reply? Read on to find out the sometimes surprising answers....