Using the lens of science capital to capture and explore children’s attitudes toward science in an informal making-based space

Dimitra Christidou,Michail Giannakos,Sofia Papavlasopoulou

doi:10.1108/ils-09-2020-0210

Dimitra Christidou, Michail Giannakos + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1108/ils-09-2020-0210

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Abstract

PurposeGovernments and organizations worldwide are concerned over the declining number of young people choosing to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), especially after the age of 16. Research has foregrounded that students with positive attitudes toward science are more likely to find it relevant and aspire to a science career. This study aims to understand the factors shaping students’ attitudes as these are pivotal in promoting science learning.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the framework of science capital to understand what shapes young people’s engagement with or resistance to science. The authors conducted four Computational Thinking making-based workshops with 106 children aged 15–16 years, of which 58 filled in a questionnaire and 22 were interviewed. Statistical and content analyses were performed respectively.FindingsThe results indicate that children who are more exposed to science-related activities and contexts are more likely to have higher self-efficacy, and that those with higher prior coding experience scored higher in their self-efficacy and science capital. Six themes emerged from the content analysis, highlighting the diverse factors shaping students’ attitudes, such as teaching methods, stereotypes and the degree of difficulty encountered while engaging with science in and out of school.Originality/valueBy combining qualitative and quantitative methods with the use of science capital, the authors found a number of aspects of the school experience that shape students’ attitudes to science learning in and out of school, as well as their science career aspirations.

Highlights

Many governments and organizations worldwide are highly concerned about the declining number of young people choosing to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), especially after the age of 16 [Barton et al, 2017; National Science Foundation (NSF), 2019]
5.1 Implications for research, theory and practice Our findings suggest that greater exposure of students to making and coding activities with relevant content in school or in out-of-school contexts can enhance their self-efficacy in STEM domains, thereby reinforcing their long-term interest in STEM fields
Based on our findings, we argue that science capital can serve as a useful lens to capture aspects of students’ previous and current experiences with science learning in and out of school

Summary

Introduction

Many governments and organizations worldwide are highly concerned about the declining number of young people choosing to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), especially after the age of 16 [Barton et al, 2017; National Science Foundation (NSF), 2019]. To tackle the aforementioned declining tendency, there has been a universal rise of science-related activities and communities in and out of school (Halverson and Sheridan, 2014; Papavlasopoulou et al, 2017; Peppler et al, 2016; Vossoughi and Bevan, 2014), with Coding and Computational Thinking (CT) being vital parts of this movement (Kafai et al, 2014; Kafai and Peppler, 2014) In designing such activities, educators need to consider participants’ attitudes, dispositions and background to understand the factors shaping their engagement with and potential resistance to science in both formal and informal science learning settings, with the aim of designing better activities and learning scenarios. What are students’ attitudes, beliefs and dispositions toward science learning in and outside school, in the context of CT and coding activities in informal making-based spaces?

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