Abstract
Science outreach programs have positive effects on students in both elementary and high school, but are often developed as internships, thus limiting access and requiring significant financial investment. Several larger scale evolution-themed outreach programs have been developed in the United States where academic institutions are addressing a specific need to actively promote science-thinking in direct opposition to other ways. This context is unfamiliar in other countries. Here we present a pilot implementation of the Dandelion Evolution Outreach Program designed to provide an inquiry-based learning opportunity in evolution for grade 11 high school students in Ontario, Canada. This program is flexible with respect to time commitment, low cost, is applicable throughout North America and many other regions of the world, and is learner-centered through active learning with both simulation and inquiry-based activities. We found that students were engaged with our lesson plan including both the simulation and inquiry-based activities. Results of our post-assessment suggested that students were able to formulate appropriate predictions relevant to the concepts of natural selection. The scalability of this program will be demonstrated further as more schools become involved in future offerings. The Dandelion Evolution Outreach Program is an effective means of engaging secondary school students in active, inquiry-based learning that does not restrict access.
Highlights
Science outreach programs have positive effects on students in both elementary and high school, but are often developed as internships, limiting access and requiring significant financial investment
Related to evolution outreach programs, past or existing programs are concentrated in the United States of America, where a motivation included in the development of these programs is often to tackle the rather daunting religious lobby’s influence on high school curriculum (i.e. Branch and Scott 2007; Robbins and Roy 2007; Cole 2006; Scharmann 2005; Carter and Wiles 2014; Horwitz et al 2013), or even to increase ‘acceptance of evolution’ at the college level (i.e. Abraham et al 2012)
Because we were unable to design a study with a control group of student, we developed a pre-assessment activity to identify the students’ level of understanding of the mechanisms of natural selection and a post-assessment activity designed to test whether students had increased their understanding having completed our simulation and dandelion evolution study discussions
Summary
Science outreach programs have positive effects on students in both elementary and high school, but are often developed as internships, limiting access and requiring significant financial investment. Related to evolution outreach programs, past or existing programs are concentrated in the United States of America, where a motivation included in the development of these programs is often to tackle the rather daunting religious lobby’s influence on high school curriculum (i.e. Branch and Scott 2007; Robbins and Roy 2007; Cole 2006; Scharmann 2005; Carter and Wiles 2014; Horwitz et al 2013), or even to increase ‘acceptance of evolution’ at the college level (i.e. Abraham et al 2012) This phenomenon is not prevalent on an international scale and we focus exclusively on the use of outreach as a means of effectively teaching students about evolution; a topic rarely addressed in science outreach programs, especially within Canada. Though no metrics of learning were assessed, the authors described the students as engaged and able to perform the tasks asked of them
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