Science-related Experiences Research Articles

Childhood experiences and personal traits as predictors of reliance on science and on religion to make sense of the world: results of a national US study

ABSTRACT People often rely on two distinct worldviews, religion and science, to make sense of the world, and the degree to which they rely on each holds profound implications for their lives. However, the precursors shaping these different sense-making approaches remain poorly understood. The present study examined the extent to which individuals’ recollected childhood religion- and science-related experiences, along with personal traits, were associated with their present reliance on these ways of making sense. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with a representative sample of U.S. adults. Multivariate regression modeling simultaneously assessed predictors of reliance on religion (RoR) and reliance on science (RoS) after controlling for age, gender, income and education. Among retrospective childhood predictors, greater religious credibility-enhancing displays by caregivers predicted current higher RoR and lower RoS. Opportunities for science learning during childhood predicted increased RoS but were not significantly associated with RoR. Among current measures of personal traits, higher levels of agreeableness predicted both RoR and RoS. Distinct associations were also found: authoritarianism predicted only RoR, while openness and (inversely) extraversion predicted RoS. This study enhances our understanding of the complex interplay between childhood experiences, personal traits, and reliance on religion and science in adulthood.

Would a career in science suit me? Students’ self-views in relation to science and STEM career aspirations

ABSTRACT Educational reform efforts and contemporary research have consistently called for enhancing young people’s interest in STEM study and career choices. In response to this challenge, we utilise and extend Social Cognitive Career Theory to examine the development of secondary school students’ self-views in relation to science and STEM career aspirations over a period of 5 years. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews at eight different times and analysed using content analysis. The findings showcase dynamic relationships between students’ self-views and career aspirations, influenced by opportunities for science engagement, the social context and family-related factors. Family backgrounds and expectations, innate resources, gender differences, science-related experiences associated with context and time were found to have a critical role. The findings speak to the need for future longitudinal research, from secondary school to career paths. Such research can enhance our understanding of the developing relationship between self-views and career aspirations, potentially facilitating stronger identification with science and relevant career aspirations, benefiting curriculum design.

Predicting grade school scientific literacy from aspects of the early home science environment.

Fostering scientific literacy has become an increasingly salient goal as evidence accumulates regarding the early emergence of foundational skills and knowledge in this domain, as well as their relation to long-term success and engagement. Despite the potential that the home context has for nurturing early scientific literacy, research specifying its role has been limited. In this longitudinal study, we examined associations between children's early science-related experiences at home and their subsequent scientific literacy. Following on our previous work, we specifically considered parent causal-explanatory talk, as well as the degree to which parents facilitate access to science-related materials and experiences. A group of 153 children from diverse backgrounds were evaluated across 5 annual waves of data collection from preschool entry (M age = 3.41) through first grade (M age = 7.92). Results demonstrate that parent invitations for children to explain causal phenomena had strong concurrent relations to scientific literacy but showed little relation to subsequent literacy. In contrast, the broader home science environment at preschool entry, particularly in the form of exposure to science-related activities, predicted scientific literacy over the next 4 years. The directionality and specificity of these relations were clarified through the inclusion of measures of cognitive and broader home experiences as controls in regression analyses. Overall, our investigation revealed that exposure to science-related input provided by parents has particularly powerful potential for shaping scientific literacy when children are very young. Implications for parent-focused interventions that promote science literacy are discussed.

Science as experience, exploration, and experiments: elementary teachers’ notions of ‘doing science’

ABSTRACTMuch of the literature on science teaching suggests that elementary teachers lack relevant prior experiences with science. This study begins to reframe the deficit approach to research in science teaching by privileging the experiences elementary teachers have had with science – both in and out of schools – throughout their lives. Our work uses identity as a lens to examine the complexities of elementary teachers’ narrative accounts of their experiences with science over the course of their lives. Our findings identify components of teachers’ science-related experiences in order to lay the groundwork for making connections between teachers’ personal experiences and professional practice. This work demonstrates that teachers’ storied lives are important for educational researchers and teacher educators, as they reveal elements of teaching knowledge that may be productive and resourceful for refining teachers’ science practice.

Chinese students’ science-related experiences: Comparison of the ROSE study in Xinjiang and Shanghai

Background: Students’ daily-life experiences may render favorable effects on the students’ affective domain like interest, enthusiasm, motivation, joy, curiosity, awareness, and eagerness to learn science as not commonly found in the classroom environment. However, no rigorous research has been reported on those aspects in Mainland China despite many recent studies done in various Western countries.Purpose: This paper aims to report and compare the science-related experiences of ninth-graders from two places (in Urumqi City of Xinjiang province and Shanghai) in China through a large-scale survey of their junior secondary three students.Sample: The sample consists of 4115 students in Urumqi City (from 28 schools) and Shanghai (from 25 schools).Design and methods: This study adopted a Likert scale questionnaire instrument, as translated from the international Relevance Of Science Education (ROSE) Project. From a confirmatory factor analysis of the data, we identify and focus on six factors which are directly correlated with students’ science-related experiences outside school environment in Xinjiang and Shanghai and employ relevant factor scores to compare the gender, regional, and socioeconomic effects.Results: As revealed by the t-test, gender and regional differences were statistically significant in affecting (1) students’ outdoor living experience, (2) hands-on experience of transportation, and (3) their daily-life experience with do-it-yourself tools and models. In all three aspects, boys and Xinjiang students possessed richer experiences than girls and Shanghai students, respectively.Conclusions: Based on ANOVA tests, Shanghai students’ out-of-school science-related experiences were more often significantly affected by various socioeconomic variables (including their parents’ education and occupation and their family income) than Xinjiang students. From cross-regional comparison, Chinese students had much fewer science-related experiences than those of Greek and Finnish students. The limitations and educational implications of the present study are also discussed.

The Stanford Medical Youth Science Program: educational and science-related outcomes.

Biomedical preparatory programs (pipeline programs) have been developed at colleges and universities to better prepare youth for entering science- and health-related careers, but outcomes of such programs have seldom been rigorously evaluated. We conducted a matched cohort study to evaluate the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program's Summer Residential Program (SRP), a 25-year-old university-based biomedical pipeline program that reaches out to low-income and underrepresented ethnic minority high school students. Five annual surveys were used to assess educational outcomes and science-related experience among 96 SRP participants and a comparison group of 192 youth who applied but were not selected to participate in the SRP, using ~2:1 matching on sociodemographic and academic background to control for potential confounders. SRP participants were more likely than the comparison group to enter college (100.0 vs. 84.4 %, p = 0.002), and both of these matriculation rates were more than double the statewide average (40.8 %). In most areas of science-related experience, SRP participants reported significantly more experience (>twofold odds) than the comparison group at 1 year of follow-up, but these differences did not persist after 2-4 years. The comparison group reported substantially more participation in science or college preparatory programs, more academic role models, and less personal adversity than SRP participants, which likely influenced these findings toward the null hypothesis. SRP applicants, irrespective of whether selected for participation, had significantly better educational outcomes than population averages. Short-term science-related experience was better among SRP participants, although longer-term outcomes were similar, most likely due to college and science-related opportunities among the comparison group. We discuss implications for future evaluations of other biomedical pipeline programs.

A Study on the Extra Curricula Science-related Hands-on Experience Programs Implemented in Science-focused High Schools

A Study on the Extra Curricula Science-related Hands-on Experience Programs Implemented in Science-focused High Schools

Sixth Graders' Conceptions of Rocks in their Local Environments

Instruction in a constructivist framework involves creating opportunities for learners to integrate new learning about abstract geological ideas with prior science-related experiences, and to apply ideas learned in class to everyday events. But do children readily make these connections? I surveyed 55 sixth grade children about their knowledge of rocks in their local area. Results indicate that students can provide appropriate but general definitions for rocks and explanations of their formation. They can name examples of rock specimens in their home areas, but have little understanding of the underlying geology of the region. Implications of these results emphasize that making local connections, especially in activities such as rock and mineral identification, should be included in K-12 geological education.

Science centers and scientific literacy: Promoting a relationship with science

AbstractThis research explores the perceptions, ideas, and understanding about science of the staff and adult visitors to an interactive science center. Data were collected from 63 staff and 102 visitors through interviews and a survey designed for the study. Visitors' perceptions about science were more limited than those of the Center staff, especially in terms of the nature of science. For example, after their visit, visitors were more likely to think that scientists always agree with each other, that scientific explanations are definite, and that science has the answers to all problems. Staff were more skeptical than visitors about scientists' ability to communicate their work clearly and that scientific knowledge would not be misused. Staff were more positive and confident about their own use of science than were visitors. The research suggests that visitors to the science center have a positive experience, most of them recognize a change in the way they think about science, and this change represents not just learning new knowledge, but a step toward a change in their relationship with science. This outcome is consistent with one of the major roles the staff saw for the Center: that visitors should become more aware of and interested in science, and leave feeling more comfortable with it. Although the staff were very enthusiastic about what they saw as a positive impact on visitors' science‐related experience, many also felt there was room for improvement, especially in terms of how the nature of science was portrayed, and the representation of controversial aspects of science. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 86:706–726, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/sce.10030

Gender- and grade-level differences in science interest and participation

A cluster of three public schools was studied in an effort to assess students' attitudes toward and participation in science, and how they might vary by gender and grade. Two to three classes at each grade level from K–12 were surveyed to assess and compare attitudes toward science, extent of prior science-related experiences, and perceptions of science and scientists; each class also was observed to determine the relative numbers of teacher–student dyadic interactions related to each gender, as well as the proportions of girls and boys actively versus passively participating in laboratory activities. Overall, girls and boys expressed similar opinions on all survey scales, but girls were less likely to view science as a male-stereotyped field; younger students expressed more positive attitudes toward science than did older students. Girls also participated actively in science class: they initiated as many teacher interactions as did boys, but did not receive as much teacher attention; from elementary school to the early secondary years they also were as likely as boys to manipulate science equipment as to record data. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Minority Students in Science

Minority students achieve less well in science, have less exposure to it, but have more positive attitudes toward science. There is a negative relationship between science-related experience and attitudes toward science.

The development and evaluation of a televised science inservice program

This paper contains the report of an investigation to determine what relationships existed between teacher competencies in science mastered via a televised inservice program (LIFT OFF!) and teachers' science-related attitudes, past experiences, and use of a science program (Science A Process Approach). Evidence was obtained from the number t.,f science activities a teacher used in the classroom. Subjects were 76 elementary teachers, grades K-6. Fifty teachers participated lia color/cable television at their schools; 26, through the use of a videotape recorder. Participants varied in teaching experience, science content, and sex (two males). Data were collected via a preand post-semantic differential instrument, biographical information, and a post-science competency measure. Sixty-six teachers scored 29 or better for the 33 tasks on the science competency post-measure. The 26 who used videotape recorders which they could start and stop at will scored higher as a group on this measure than did the 50 teachers who used color/cable television. Teacher attitudes changed in a positive direction. A weekly tally of science activities taught showed a general increase over the 15 weeks. (Author/PEB) 1. U S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTW, EDUCATION W EDUCATION THIS fiOCUPAEN T HAS BEEN RE FRO DUCE D EXACTLY AS RECEIVED 1,,NDA4 THE PERSON OR ORGANIZA:AON OEIGIN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE SENT Or FICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A TELEVISED SCIENCE INSERVICE PROGRAM Martha Piper University of Houston