Participation In Scientific Activities Research Articles

Medical students and research: Is there a current discrepancy between education and demands?

This article refers to a correspondence letter recently published in The Lancet, describing successful student-led research initiatives in Latin America, which were introduced because of low support from universities and governments. As a final-year medical student with keen interest in science, the topic of student engagement in research activities caught my interest. Literature shows that while junior doctors are required to perform research on their own and face intense pressure to publish, formal training in principles of research and scientific writing is often neglected by medical schools. This contrast is worrying, as the progression of the medical profession and the quality of patient care depend on high-quality research and on future generations of physician-scientists being both enthusiastic and competent. Hence, this article summarizes suggestions to increase both students' research proficiency and participation in scientific activities, and offers a critical view on this important topic, as medical schools without curricular research education and without active student integration should urgently consider revising their policies.

The influence of cultural capital on consumption of scientific culture: A survey of visitors to an open house event at a public scientific research institution

Based on the concept of cultural capital, this study explores the relationship between habitual behaviors of individuals regarding their past accumulation of such capital and current responses to a scientific institute's public outreach activity. At an open house held at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), anonymous questionnaires were distributed among 1,350 visitors and collected from 785 of them (collection rate = 58.1%). The results, measuring the past five to six years, showed that the respondents accumulated cultural capital through participation in scientific activities as well as in activities involving art, music, and literature. Given these quantified values, correlations between citizens' levels of accumulated cultural capital and their current scientific consumption behavior were studied. A statistical analysis of the two components of cultural capital (science and technology/art and literature) showed that people's accumulated scientific capital influenced their current behavior and revealed a correlation between the two components.

The influence of early science experience in kindergarten on children's immediate and later science achievement: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study

AbstractThis study explores the impacts of selected early science experiences in kindergarten (frequency and duration of teachers' teaching of science, availability of sand/water table and science areas, and children's participation in cooking and science equipment activities) on children's science achievement in kindergarten and third grade using data for 8,642 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten cohort (ECLS‐K). A theoretical model that depicts the relationships between the study variables was developed and tested using structural equation modeling. Results demonstrated that availability of science materials in kindergarten classrooms facilitated teachers' teaching of science and children's participation in science activities. Likewise, the frequency and the duration of kindergarten science teaching was a significant predictor of children's science activities but not of the children's end of kindergarten science achievement scores. Children's engagement with science activities that involved using science equipment also was not a significant predictor of their end of kindergarten science achievement. However, children's participation in cooking activities was. Children's prior knowledge, motivation, socio‐economic status, and gender were all statistically significant predictors of their science achievement at the end of kindergarten and end of third grade. Results of this study indicate that early science experiences provided in kindergarten are not strong predictors of children's immediate and later science achievement. Findings of the study suggest that the limited time and nature of science instruction might be related to the limited effect of the science experiences. Implications for teacher education programs and educational policy development are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 217–235, 2011

Práticas e disputas em torno do patrimônio científico-cultural: Bertha Lutz no Conselho de Fiscalização das Expedições Artísticas e Científicas do Brasil

Este artigo é fruto de uma ampla pesquisa que analisou a participação feminina em atividades científicas no início do século XX, no Brasil, baseando-se principalmente na análise da atuação da naturalista Bertha Lutz (1894-1976) como representante do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro no Conselho de Fiscalização das Expedições Artísticas e Científicas no Brasil, entre 1939 e 1951. Bertha envolveu-se em discussões importantes sobre o desenvolvimento das ciências e a preservação do meio ambiente brasileiro, e contribuiu com a definição de políticas científicas nacionais, consolidando uma participação importante em um grupo formado principalmente por cientistas e intelectuais que, entre as décadas de 1930 e 1940, mobilizavam- se contra a degradação do meio ambiente e a favor da viabilização de recursos para a realização de pesquisas científicas no país.

An exploration of issues surrounding teaching the nature of science to pre-service primary school teachers

This article reports on the outcomes of a study that compared implicit and explicit teaching approaches on the development of contemporary conceptions of the nature of science (NoS). The sample comprised two groups of prospective primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland, all non-specialists in science. Research has shown that contemporary conceptions of NoS can be developed through implicit means—that is, by hands-on participation in scientific activities and by applying the process (scientific) skills in scientific inquiry. International research studies indicate that primary and secondary teachers, in general, do not hold contemporary (elaborate) conceptions of the NoS. This article reports on the outcomes of a comparative study that examined 148 prospective Irish primary teachers’ conceptions of NoS. Seventy-four of these students were taught about aspects of NoS through explicit approaches during a science methodology course. The study compares the effectiveness of implicit and explicit approaches in the development of students’ conceptions of NoS. The participants responded to the question ‘What is science?’ before and after a science methodology course. Interestingly, analyses of the individual responses revealed that the students who had received explicit instruction (test group) in NoS had developed more insightful conceptions of NoS, contradicting research advocating implicit approaches.

A Cross‐domain Analysis of Change in Students’ Attitudes toward Science and Attitudes about the Utility of Science

Cross‐domain analysis was used to examine changes in two attitudinal dimensions: students’ attitudes towards science and attitudes about the utility of science over the middle school and high school years. A sample of 444 students was selected from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth. The results show that the overall trend for students’ attitudes about the utility of science is positive; however, attitudes towards science decline over the middle school and high school years. Important time‐varying predictors of both attitudes include science self‐concept, peer attitudes, teacher encouragement of science, and, to a lesser extent, student participation in science activities.

Appraising Science Career Interests in Adolescent Girls and Boys

Science career choice is partly determined by precursors such as enrollment in science and mathematics courses, which are, in turn, determined by factors such as attitudes toward science, participation in science activities, and science career preference. Participants were 1,501 students, Grades 4 through 10, from a large, national intervention study. Independent variables were gender and grade. Dependent variables measured attitude, activities, and career preference. Multivariate, univariate, and discriminant analysis and chi-square tests of association were used. Girls were less likely than boys to see science as a male activity or to believe they had not received serious attention from their science teachers. In contrast, girls were less likely than boys to see science as a fun puzzle to be solved. On three out of four measures of interest in Realistic and Investigative careers (Holland, 1997), girls showed less interest than boys. There were no gender differences for science activities and no gender-by-grade interaction effects. Results confirm the complex nature of attraction to a career in science and shed some light on differences between boys and girls in the understructure of science career interest.

Improving Science Teaching for All Students

An inservice program designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of elementary school teachers with respect to science content, effective teaching strategies, and gender equity was implemented as a semester‐long course. During the course, teachers explored new science content in chemistry and physics and then collaboratively developed lesson plans from it based on hands‐on, discovery‐centered learning, enmeshed in strategies that could maximize female student interest and participation in science. Teachers tried out their lessons between course sessions in their own classrooms and then collaboratively reflected on their progress and problems in subsequent sessions. Program results were positive for both teachers and students. Teachers reported significant increases in both their level of knowledge of and their confidence in teaching chemistry and physics concepts, as well as in their knowledge of strategies for addressing gender inequities. Project students' attitudes, particularly those of the girls, improved for some dimensions, remained stable for others, and declined for one; the girls also increased their level of active participation in science activities. Overall, the project seems to have had a positive impact on science teaching content and pedagogy, and on student (especially girls') interest and active participation in science.