Science Enrichment Program Research Articles

Contribution of Social Bonds to the Development of Scientific Research Identity in Adolescent Participants of a Science Enrichment Program

An abundance of research on self-determination theory has shown that satisfaction of basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness among adolescents promotes the experience of optimal career-related outcomes such as academic motivation and engagement. However, few studies have explored how satisfaction of these needs promotes identification with particular careers, and less attention has been paid to the role of relatedness satisfaction in these developmental processes compared to autonomy and competence. We addressed these issues in the current study by examining the relationship between relatedness and identification as a research scientist. Five latent classes of scientific research identity development were identified using growth mixture modeling: (a) strong positive growth, (b) moderate positive growth, (c) weak positive growth, (d) no growth, and (e) strong negative growth. Results of logistic regression analyses indicated that need for relatedness was a significant positive predictor of membership in the strong positive growth class relative to the no growth class. Implications for identity development as a research scientist and the social and motivational influences undergirding this process are discussed.

Integrating artificial intelligence into science lessons: teachers’ experiences and views

BackgroundIn the midst of digital transformation, schools are transforming their classrooms as they prepare students for a world increasingly automated by new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). During curricular implementation, it has not made sense to teachers to teach AI as a stand-alone subject as it is not a traditional discipline in schools. As such, subject matter teachers may need to take on the responsibility of integrating AI content into discipline-based lessons to help students make connections and see its relevance rather than present AI as separate content. This paper reports on a study that piloted a new lesson package in science classrooms to introduce students to the idea of AI. Specifically, the AI-integrated science lesson package, designed by the research team, provided an extended activity that used the same context as an existing lesson activity. Three science teachers from different schools piloted the lesson package with small groups of students and provided feedback on the materials and implementation.FindingsThe findings revealed the teachers’ perceptions of integrating AI into science lessons in terms of the connection between AI and science, challenges when implementing the AI lesson package and recommendations on improvements. First, the teachers perceived that AI and science have similarities in developing accurate models with quality data and using simplified reasoning, while they thought that AI and science play complementary roles when solving scientific problems. Second, the teachers thought that the biggest challenge in implementing the lesson package was a lack of confidence in content mastery, while the package would be challenging to get buy-in from teachers regarding curriculum adaptation and targeting the appropriate audience. Considering these challenges, they recommended that comprehensive AI resources be provided to teachers, while this package can be employed for science enrichment programs after-school.ConclusionsThe study has implications for curriculum writers who design lesson packages that introduce AI in science classrooms and for science teachers who wish to contribute to the development of AI literacy for teachers and the extension of the range of school science and STEM to students.

‘So basically I have to speak less and give students some freedom’: how committing to a value influences a teacher’s enactment of an inquiry-based science unit

ABSTRACT Teachers’ practices and interactions with curriculum materials are influenced by a host of factors, which include their values. The mechanisms of this influence may benefit from elucidation. Here, we describe a case of a teacher enacting an inquiry-based learning unit (LU) as part of a school science enrichment programme. The teacher’s interactions with the LU appear to be influenced by her self-stated idea of giving students ‘freedom’. We track these influences through the course of the teacher’s planning, enactment, and reflection of the LU. Because of how ‘freedom’ guides her actions, we argue that it serves the function of a value. Furthermore, we contend that the teacher’s commitment to ‘freedom’ represents an exercise of her deliberative agency. This commitment to ‘freedom’ is supported by her interactions with her context, which include labelling of her preliminary ideas with the term ‘freedom’, being asked to choose between curriculum materials, reflective conversations with the researcher, and reframing the site of enactment. We also describe challenges that the teacher faces with respect to student guidance, resulting from her commitment to ‘freedom’. From this work, we suggest implications for the design of curriculum materials and teacher professional development.

Online Science Instruction Can Promote Adolescents' Autonomy Need Satisfaction: a Latent Growth Curve Analysis.

This research examined the differential motivational effects of a pre-college science enrichment program delivered in both online and in-person learning formats. Using self-determination theory as a guiding framework, we hypothesized that (a) students would exhibit growth in their perceived satisfaction of needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, (b) online learning would be associated with greater growth in autonomy, and (c) in-person learning would be associated with greater growth in both competence and relatedness. Using a sample of 598 adolescent participants, results of latent growth curve modeling indicated that satisfaction of the three needs grew unconditionally over the course of the program. However, format type was unrelated to growth in need satisfaction. Rather, this effect was found to be conditional upon the type of science project undertaken by students: astrophysics students exhibited significantly greater autonomy growth when receiving online instruction than did biochemistry students. Our findings suggest that online science learning can be just as effective in motivating students as in-person learning provided that the learning tasks are conducive to remote instruction.

Improving Equity through a Science Enrichment Program

We examined the impact of science enrichment activities on African American female students' achievement and attitude towards science. Seventeen students participated in the study. Attitudes were measured using a pre and post attitudinal survey, whereas achievement was measured using test scores from their biology class over a six-week period. Pre- and post measures indicated a significant increase in achievement and attitudes for the students who participated in the study.

Closing the Excellence Gap: Investigation of an Expanded Talent Search Model for Student Selection Into an Extracurricular STEM Program in Rural Middle Schools

High-potential students from underresourced rural schools face barriers that reduce options for academic advancement, which widens the excellence gap between them and their more affluent, but similar ability peers. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an expanded above-level testing model to identify high-potential rural students for an extracurricular math and science enrichment program. Results from our analyses indicated that a more inclusive talent pool differentiated among high achievers to find greater percentages (13%) of talented students compared with most gifted programs (3% to 5%) or Talent Search programs (5%). Overall, students’ math and science scores were related to a 75% and 50%, respectively, greater odds in being identified for the extracurricular program. Regardless of program participation, all talent pool students increased their math and science achievement; however, there were some significant gender differences.

The Impact of a Short-Term Pharmacology Enrichment Program on Knowledge and Science Attitudes in Precollege Students

As our nation and the global economy place an increased demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs, science educators must implement innovative approaches to pique precollege student’s interests in these careers. Pharmacology remains a relevant and engaging platform to teach biology and chemistry concepts, and this strategy applied over several months in the formal classroom increases science literacy in high school students. In order to improve the affordability and accessibility of this educational approach, we developed and assessed the impact of a short-term pharmacology day camp, ‘Pills, Potions, and Poisons’ (PPP), on high school students’ science knowledge and attitudes toward science careers. The PPP program was offered annually from 2009 through 2012, and participants spent 6 days learning about pharmacology and careers in the biomedical sciences. All PPP student participants (n=134) completed surveys assessing their basic science knowledge and science attitudes before and after the program. Students achieved significant gains in their science knowledge by the end (Day 6) of the PPP program (from 41% mean test score to 65%; p<0.001). In addition, the majority of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the PPP program positively impacted their attitudes toward science (p<0.001). This study provides evidence that a short-term pharmacology-centered science enrichment program can achieve significant gains in participant’s science knowledge as well as motivation and confidence towards science careers. Moreover, we report benefits experienced by the undergraduate, graduate, and professional pharmacy student teaching assistants (TAs, n=10) who reported improved communication skills and an increased interest in future educational work.
 
 Type: Original Research

211. Lang Youth Medical Program Public Health Curriculum: Empowering Youth and Expanding Their Vision of Health Through the Inclusion of a Public Health Curriculum in a Science Enrichment Program

211. Lang Youth Medical Program Public Health Curriculum: Empowering Youth and Expanding Their Vision of Health Through the Inclusion of a Public Health Curriculum in a Science Enrichment Program

A three-attribute transfer skills framework – part II: applying and assessing the model in science education

In an era in which information is rapidly growing and changing, it is very important to teach with the goal of students' engagement in life-long learning in mind. This can partially be achieved by developing transferable thinking skills. In our previous paper – Part I, we conducted a review of the transfer literature and suggested a three-attribute transfer skills framework presented graphically as a cube. The goals of this paper – Part II are (a) to investigate the application of the three-attribute transfer skills framework by conducting two studies; and (b) to demonstrate the value of the framework as a tool for design of assignments and assessment of students' transfer skills. In this paper, we have applied the three-attribute transfer skills framework to design assignments and to assess middle and high school students. In order to achieve the first goal we conducted two studies: (1) investigating high school chemistry students in a computerized laboratory setting, and (2) exploring middle school students who were exposed to a science enrichment program. Study 1 took a case-based chemistry approach and included assessment of high school honor chemistry students' transfer skills. In Study 2, we evaluated the transfer skills of ninth grade students who had participated in a science enrichment academic program with emphasis on physics and we compared boys to girls. Findings of Study 1 indicated an increase in students' far transfer skill as expressed by the progress students made in transferring knowledge from chemistry to other science domains and by using more chemistry understanding levels in their responses. In Study 2, we found that the near transfer skill of middle school boys was significantly higher than the same skill among girls who participated in the same enrichment program. Both parts, the review and the three-attribute transfer skills framework (previous paper – Part I) and the research (this paper – Part II), contribute to narrowing the gap between the theory of transfer, empirical research, and the practice of transfer in science classrooms.

Gender and the Choice of a Science Career: The Impact of Social Support and Possible Selves

This study examined the relationships among perceived social support, beliefs about how one would fare in a science career, and perceptions and choice of a career in science. Participants were 48 men and 33 women from the Midwestern United States who had been identified as gifted in mathematics and science and participated in a high school science enrichment program. They ranged in age from 24 to 28 years old, and the sample was predominantly White (83.3%). Participants completed an online measure approximately 10 years after the program ended examining their sources of support and beliefs about the self as a scientist to see how these variables influence perceptions of a science career and actual career. We expected that the relationship between perceived support from people and current job held would be mediated by participants’ beliefs about their personal life as a scientist in the future. Similarly, we expected that the relationship between a perceived supportive environment and having a science career would be mediated by participants’ beliefs about their career as a scientist in the future. Findings indicated that social support contributed directly to men’s and women’s ability to envision themselves in a future science career, which, in turn, predicted their interest in and motivation for a science career. No significant gender differences were found in the predictors of men’s and women’s perceptions and choice of a science career. Implications for recruitment of students into scientific majors and careers are discussed.

Teaching Newton’s Laws to Urban Middle School Students in a College-Based Science Enrichment Program

Participation in secondary physics has been shown to be limited for underrepresented students in urban school districts. This study explores an alternative means for providing physics access for city youth through the use of a university-based Saturday enrichment program for eighth grade Latino students. During a three-week unit on Newton’s laws, students engaged in inquiry-based lessons that featured hands-on tasks, probeware with handheld sensing devices, computer simulations, iPod Touch applications, and multiple representations of mechanics concepts. Students were tested pre- and post- with a modified Force Concept Inventory. Results indicated significant gains in student understanding of Newton’s laws. Implications for physics teaching and learning in urban middle schools and informal science settings are discussed.

The Effect of an Experiential Learning Program on Middle School Students’ Motivation Toward Mathematics and Science

A mixed methods design was used to evaluate the effects of four experiential learning programs on the interest and motivation of middle school students toward mathematics and science. The Expectancy-Value model provided a theoretical framework for the exploration of 336 middle school student participants. Initially, participants were generally positive and had relatively high mathematics and science motivation (Eccles et al., 1983). Overall interest in mathematics increased after completing the program, but a decrease in the importance of mathematics on students’ sense of self and some gender differences were detected, with males showing more gains than females. While few significant differences were found on the pre-post student self-ratings, other evidence suggests the program brought about meaningful change. Several potential reasons for the lack of detectable changes on self-reported student motivation measure are discussed. This article concludes with a discussion about the implications for the evaluation of science enrichment programs.

Teaching teachers and reaching students

Having spent two years of my physics graduate study as an instructor for Columbia University’s Science Honors Program, I share Daniel Kleppner’s enthusiasm for programs that give undergraduate and graduate students of the physical sciences the opportunity to teach in an engaging and creative manner ( Physics Today, October 2009, page 8). It was both a fortifying experience and tremendous fun to share with high-school students my takes on special relativity, quantum mechanics, and biophysics. However, neither the Science Honors Program nor Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS), the MIT program discussed by Kleppner, is fostering science instruction where the nation needs it most.Last year and this final year of my graduate study, as part of a Columbia Fellowship (LEEFS; http://leefs.ei.columbia.edu) under NSF’s Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education program (GK-12) at Columbia, I have had the opportunity to work with a seventh-grade math teacher at a Title I (economically disadvantaged) public school in Brooklyn, New York. Once a week we develop a lesson that presents a current microbiology research topic in the language of the seventh-grade math curriculum. This experience has proved far more challenging than my experience with the Science Honors Program; it has also proved crucial. High-school students attracted to Columbia’s or MIT’s elite science enrichment programs are already on their way to success, whereas many economically disadvantaged public-school students are convinced early on that college, let alone a career in the sciences, is not an option for them. Furthermore, teaching students in their own classrooms rather than on college campuses or in museums is a critically important experience for undergraduate or graduate students who are seriously considering a teaching career. Science education in the US faces a crisis that goes beyond the lack of qualified high-school physics teachers. Although I and my co-fellows would agree that the solution is far from clear, I am convinced that NSF’s GK-12 and similar programs are a step in the right direction.© 2010 American Institute of Physics.

Science Anxiety, Science Attitudes, and Gender: Interviews from a Binational Study

We conducted interviews with eleven groups of Danish and American students. The interview topics included gender and national components of science education, science anxiety, and attitudes toward science. The groups were science and nonscience students at the upper secondary and university levels, and one group of American science teachers who were students in a science enrichment program. The interviews revealed a variety of relationships between and among science attitudes, science anxiety, nationality, gender, and course of study. We also probed student attitudes toward constructivist versus traditional views of science.

Creativity and Science Learning in a Science Enrichment Programme in Hong Kong

Creativity and Science Learning in a Science Enrichment Programme in Hong Kong

Students’ Perspectives of a Science Enrichment Programme: Out‐of‐school inquiry as access

Science enrichment programmes housed outside traditional school settings can offer students from traditionally under‐resourced schools valuable opportunities to access authentic scientific tools and practices. The present study contributes to our understanding of this potential and how it can best be realised through an analysis of the students’ own perspectives on a specific out‐of‐school programme—a one‐year partnership with a university‐based science outreach programme, which culminated in a half‐day laboratory experience for a total of 292 secondary students (ages 11–18 years). Extensive data were collected on this experience, including detailed field notes and video recordings of the classes’ visits to the university as well as the planning meetings with teachers at the beginning and end of the school year, surveys of the participating students, and surveys and interviews of the teachers, and were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively using a grounded theory approach. Building on the valuable perspectives of the participating students, and comparing them with those of their eight teachers, this study confirms that carefully designed collaborative out‐of‐school inquiry programmes have the potential to broaden students’ (especially those from under‐resourced schools) experiences of science as well as bridge them to school science.

Direction discovery

Launch into education about pharmacology (LEAP) is an inquiry-based science enrichment program designed to enhance competence in biology and chemistry and foster interest in science careers especially among under-represented minorities. The study of how drugs work, how they enter cells, alter body chemistry, and exit the body engages students to conceptualize fundamental precepts in biology, chemistry, and math. Students complete an intensive three-week course in the fundamentals of pharmacology during the summer followed by a mentored research component during the school year. Following a 5E learning paradigm, the summer course captures student interest by introducing controversial topics in pharmacology and provides a framework that guides them to explore topics in greater detail. The 5E learning cycle is recapitulated as students extend their knowledge to design and to test an original research question in pharmacology. LEAP students demonstrated significant gains in biology and chemistry knowledge and interests in pursuing science. Several students earned honors for the presentation of their research in regional and state science fairs. Success of the LEAP model in its initial 2 years argues that coupling college-level coursework of interest to teens with an authentic research experience enhances high school student success in and enthusiasm for science.

Taking a LEAP: Training the next generation of pharmacologists

Launch into Education About Pharmacology (LEAP), a science enrichment program for high school students, uses the study of drugs and their effects on the human body to teach basic principles in biology and chemistry. LEAP targets 10th/11th graders underrepresented in the sciences. Students complete an intensive three‐week course in pharmacology during June and engage in mentored research during the school year. Teaching approaches include guided‐inquiry exercises, debates, discovery labs, and presentations by career scientists in diverse areas of pharmacology. LEAP students exhibit a 13–32% gain in basic science knowledge as assessed by a 10‐item multiple‐choice posttest administered at the conclusion of the summer course. Overall, the students rate their interest and self‐efficacy in science as significantly higher after the LEAP experience. In a retrospective analysis, 86% of participants report an increased interest in science. LEAP students have earned a combined total of nine awards in local and state science competitions (including one academic scholarship). These data suggest that topic‐relevant study, coupled with exposure to research science, effectively increases understanding of key scientific concepts and enthusiasm for science education among high school students. LEAP is funded by a SSEP grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Science Teachers’ Perceived Benefits of an Out‐of‐school Enrichment Programme: Identity needs and university affordances

Science enrichment programmes housed outside traditional school settings offer unique opportunities to access and use authentic scientific tools and practices, especially for urban students whose school science experiences often lack resources. Yet opportunities to access these tools and practices are realized only when science teachers value them sufficiently to take advantage of them. This study examines how eight urban secondary science teachers evaluated a specific out‐of‐school science enrichment programme—a one‐year partnership with a local university science outreach centre, which culminated in a half‐day laboratory experience for their students. Teachers’ perceptions were captured through interviews and surveys. Findings indicate that these teachers came to identify and value many of the potential benefits for out‐of‐school enrichment programmes reported in the literature as well as some additional ones. The teachers’ also showed a shift over time with respect to their perceptions of the value of the out‐of‐school experience, moving from an initial focus on increasing test scores toward a greater appreciation for its impact on students’ motivation and identity development. The study offers insight into secondary science students’ and teachers’ identity needs, and what universities can offer to address them.

Unintended consequences: How science professors discourage women of color

AbstractThis study examined how 16 Black, Latina, and American Indian women science students reacted to their undergraduate science classes. I focused on the meanings they made of the common features of university science documented by Seymour and Hewitt (1997), including large, competitive, fast‐paced classes, poor teaching, and an unsupportive culture. I also explored their responses to the values manifested in their science classes and laboratories. The research took place at a large, predominantly White research university; participants were recruited from a science enrichment program for high‐achieving students. I interviewed the participants and attended science classes and laboratories with them. I analyzed the data using J. Spradley's semantic structural analysis method (1979, 1980) and validated it through triangulation and member‐checking. The women in the study found three features of science classes particularly discouraging: the size of the lecture classes, asking and answering questions in class, and (in some cases) engaging in undergraduate research. They were negatively impacted by two cultural values: a narrow focus on decontextualized science and the construction of science as a gender‐, ethnicity‐ and race‐neutral meritocracy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 91:805–821, 2007