English

Jonathan G Way

doi:10.15365/cate.1152008

Abstract

The need for inquiry oriented authentic activities is imperative to engage high school students in the active inv olvement and associated learning of science. Herein, we describe our experience of involving high school students in the process of studying wild coyotes in and around the communities where they live. We found that many became aware and familiar with the program but few participated to the point of being contributing members of the scientific community. To make this project sustainable in the long-run three important things must happen: one, there must be reliable point person (such as a graduate student) who can focus on the ecology side of the coyote project while others can focus on the educational components of the collaboration; two, mechanisms must be put in place to provide incentives for participants; and three, funding must be reliable and substantial over time.

Highlights

There is mounting evidence that the science education reform process must include a sustained effort toward making the study of science accessible to more students (Jones 1997)
Because 53 % of African-Americans live inside cities and 88 % reside in metropolitan areas (United States Census Bureau 2001), it is critical to engage and motivate urban students to learn science in order to achieve many of the goals of the National Science Foundation (2002), such as diversifying the workforce
We describe how the partnership worked on a day to day basis, share our experience implementing this project in a high school, and offer suggestions to make the project more realistic in the future

Summary

Introduction

There is mounting evidence that the science education reform process must include a sustained effort toward making the study of science accessible to more students (Jones 1997). We describe how the partnership worked on a day to day basis, share our experience implementing this project in a high school, and offer suggestions to make the project more realistic in the future This project, along with an associated curriculum unit (Way 2005) on coyotes, gave students and teachers the tools, knowledge, and opportunity to participate in a science apprenticeship program where students were learning at the heels of researchers, whereby novices were gradually enculturated into the coyote study with the goal of becoming an expert in the field of study (Hay and Barab 2001). Future studies need to assess the efficacy of involving urban and multicultural students in the authentic participation of science topics

Limitations

Conclusions

Findings

Literature Cited