All children mimic their parents. If they want to learn how to hunt for food they watch how mum and dad do it. If they want to know what to eat or what sounds to be fearful of, they observe their elders.

The approach is a survival mechanism in the wild – and it’s the same in humans. Brighton Science Festival director Richard Robinson applies this basic zoological principle to programming his annual science-based Sussex gathering.

“If mum and dad aren’t interested in science then you don’t do science because you haven’t seen them do it,” he says, sounding like an enthusiastic uncle with a secret to share.

“Therefore, for two days a year we invite the parents along to bring their kids. “The fact is, parents often shove the kids to one side and say, ‘I’m going to have a go at this’ and then say, ‘That was easier than I remember at school’. Then they’ve got a little taste of science being fun, and that can be the catalyst.”

Once the children have watched their parents having fun, they have a bigger experience of science being fun “and will enjoy science slightly more and realise it is OK”.

Robinson confesses the Bright Sparks weekend, February 15 and February 16, is actually aimed at parents. “A lot of people have memories of that chemistry teacher who put them off science forever. So for them the second bite is good – and they come away nourished.”

Programming pointers

Robinson picked up the programming hint from his knowledge of the Suzuki Method of violin teaching, which has produced millions of brilliant violinists all over the world. It is a method parents who want musical children – or children who enjoy music – might follow.

Two key principles are to play young children the grand masters performing simple tunes and give them violins and instruments which are the right size. “The one other thing the parents have to do is pick up a violin and learn it themselves,” explains Robinson.

“Not for very long – it’s just a matter of picking it up and flashing it around because then the child is not scared of the violin.” This fits with his theory that the struggle for making science work is partly to make people less scared of it. “Certainly Simon Singh, Festival Of The Spoken Nerd and Andrea Sella do that terribly well.”

All three appear at this year’s Brighton Science Festival, whose success Robinson compares to Moore’s Law of computing: hardware power doubles every two years.

The 2014 edition – number ten – has more than 70 events. Robinson’s self-penned remit is to reach as many people as possible. “What is exciting about anything which is part of communicating information is that you are part of the flow.

“To have knowledge and not let it out is like having no knowledge. So you don’t know anything. The bottom line is you are a grumpy old man sitting in a pub putting the world to rights.

“If you can put the world to rights in front of an audience of 300, it’s so much better.”

Simon Singh, science writer and the author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and Trick Or Treatment?, will unravel the mathematical secrets of The Simpsons on March 1 at Sallis Benney Theatre.

“You wouldn’t expect it would you? I’m not a big fan of maths or The Simpsons, but I know he can make fun out of anything,” says Robinson.

“He wrote a book about whether the sum of two squares can be a square and it is full of adventure. He is also a consummate performer.”

Finding scientists who can communicate complex ideas in an engaging and fun manner is a problem Robinson aims to beat every year. “The great problem with science done by scientists is they don’t care for audiences. Many scientists have fled from humanity to pursue their little geeky thing.”

He cites the 18th-century British scientist Henry Cavendish, who rarely spoke to anyone, but was a great scientist who made revolutionary discoveries. He wrote on little bits of paper and hid his work in drawers. Many were first published years after his death after other people had struggled to find the things he had already discovered. “He wore clothes his father wore because they were not worn out so why not. He left notes for his servants. He whispered to anyone who wanted to have a conversation with him. The point is it is strange to find scientists who can and do put it across.”

Science isn’t boring!

David Attenborough, of course, is the finest example. Bill Bryson, who wrote A Short History Of Nearly Everything, is another with the talent of making people not notice the science in his writing.

“A Short History... is a great tale, yet the science there is strong and you learn a great deal – so it is possible to make science painless.

“I shout loudly because there are a lot of teachers out there who still think that unless it’s painful it can’t be doing any good.”

Robinson has made a career out of his ability to get potentially tedious messages across in a lively manner. He has a degree in psychology and after graduating from university he became a busker. He was involved in political theatre (usually aided by puppets) and was one of the first buskers to perform in Covent Garden. He roped in a young Ian Hislop to write the scripts while he concentrated on puppet-making, and when a talent scout spotted them in the ancient plaza the legendary TV show Spitting Image was the result.

Robinson was a co-founder on the iconic 1980s satire but left when the professionals came in. Later he did other TV work – as creator and voice behind 1990s children’s TV programme The Riddlers and also working on Puddle Lane. He finally came back to science through his own two children.

After a trip around the Science Museum, where they watched staff doing demonstrations with liquid nitrogen, he decided he’d combine his skills and do science shows in secondary schools. Several years on and he’s got plenty of opinions on the way science is taught in schools today. He cites the improvements at Angmering School, which he’s visited the day we chat, as proof young pupils are engaging more with the subject. But he is unwavering in his ire for Michael Gove, who, he says, wants every student to sit desk exams without any practical assessment. “That is like having a cookery course without doing any cooking.”

And because cooperative work is very hard to mark – and it is not going to be examined anyway – teamwork is frowned upon, which defeats scientific exploration, he adds.

The basis of science is constructive mistake-making. You have to try things to see if something works. “It doesn’t get marks, and marks mean avoiding special measures, which they are terrified of in schools. “The other thing is you mustn’t ask anybody else’s opinion about anything because that is cheating. “So all that counts is the exam and everything counts towards that. So a child enters a school and they are in solitary confinement until they can take the final paper.”

In the past, Robinson has promoted Brighton Science Festival by running around Brighton beach wearing a giant beak for an event teaching children how to communicate with seagulls (pictured) and rendered Prince Charles in toast to drum up support for an art installation in honour of bread-slicing technology.

This year he’s bigging up fairness. Although he hasn’t yet revealed what stunts he has up his sleeve to promote a talk by HBOS whistleblower Paul Moore on the science of fairness, and Richard Wilkinson’s polemic on why equality is better for everyone.

Brighton Science Festival, venues across Brighton, February 6
to March 6. Visit the website, www.brightonscience.com for more information