Storytelling could hold the key to engaging secondary students in science and help stem a decline in high-level study, says Professor Stephen Ritchie, an expert leading a new four-year research project at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Ritchie’s team will examine how emotional learning through storytelling and other strategies designed with participating teachers could enhance scientific literacy. Speaking during National Science Week, August 13 to 21, Ritchie said declining interest in senior secondary science courses had a flow-on effect to universities, contributing to skills shortages and a lack of understanding about science issues in society.