Anatomical Sciences Educational Outreach: A tool for boosting science education.

Abstract

There is an increasing loss of interest in sciences amongst secondary school and university students despite the growing need for scientists. In order to address this, science advocacy at early childhood and post primary education is undoubtedly imminent for the identification and grooming of the next generation of scientists. This may often require the introduction of special non‐curricular based programs for students at different levels. Considering this, we initiated an anatomical sciences‐inspired educational outreach project tagged “Science Advocacy Program for Youngsters” (SAPFY) for school children in public and private primary and secondary schools in Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. The program was aimed at promoting basic science education by providing suplementary practical‐based skills in science education, enhancing science teaching and learning skills and inspiring science careers through exposure to scientific research and career opportunities especially in the areas of anatomical sciences. The program held over a 3‐day period at the Department of Anatomy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nigeria with a total of 200 participants comprised of primary and secondary school students, teachers and facilitators. The program was organized in four sessions to include introductory lessons on science, anatomy and careers in anatomical sciences. The other sessions involved hands‐on activities, career‐guide interactive sessions and guided tour of the Anatomy museum. Pre‐event assessment of the participants perception about science was performed, while post‐event evaluation to observe the impact of the outreach on the attitude of the participants towards science and their overall perception about the event was performed using feedback forms. We observed a general positivity towards science by the participants and significant outcome of the impact of the event on their attitude towards science. The participants described the event to be educative, inspiring, interactive, expository, fun and innovative. The impact of the outreach programme revealed positive outcomes indicating that the outreach can create a support system capable of providing recommendable modalities for a seamless learning experience for science‐based topicsSupport or Funding InformationAmerican Association for Anatomy