Developing an Informal Science Education Program for Use in a Formal Setting

In the past 20 years, Australian students have become troublingly disinterested in science and science-related careers. The Banksia Gardens Community Centre aims to address this issue with an in-school science education program. Utilizing the best practices in informal education, we implemented a pilot science program in three schools in Hume City, and left Banksia with a suite of activities and supporting materials for use in future programs. From our analysis of the pilot program, we concluded that hands-on activities are effective for engaging students, and that the pilot program was successful at cultivating their science interest. We recommend that educators develop these inquiry-based methods, and utilize similar outreach programs to encourage an interest in science

What would a 'scientifically engaged Australia' look like?

In 2010 the Australian Federal Government released the landmark report Inspiring Australia which described the first national strategy for engagement with the sciences, and aimed to create a ‘scientifically engaged Australia’. This study investigates what might be meant by a ‘scientifically engaged Australia’ by creating a snapshot picture of the current Australian science communication landscape: its priorities, its limitations and its key players’ envisioned recommendations for future activity. It draws on several sources of data to create this picture: academic and practitioner literature regarding the emerging concept of ‘public engagement’; literature and case studies that discuss the appropriate place for deficit model and one-way approaches to science communication; the Inspiring Australia report itself and other government policy documents; and a series of interviews with top level public figures in Australian science policy and advocacy. A central finding of this study is the absence of a universal and unambiguous definition of public engagement. In addition, in contrast to trends within much of the scholarly literature, the study highlights the persistence of one-way methods and to a lesser degree the deficit model in practice. The ongoing use and relevance of one-way communication is evident; it remains a popular, albeit often default, choice in practice and is seen as ideal for the communication of fixed messages. Science communication in Australia remains, for the foreseeable future, dominated by one-way methods, in particular in the use of traditional and social media. In this respect, a scientifically engaged Australia would seem to be one in which a great deal of one-way communication takes place, supplemented by small moves towards dialogical or participatory communication. Finally, this study highlights two dominant motivations behind the call for a ‘scientifically engaged Australia’. Much high level discourse on this topic is characterised by governments’ desire to safeguard future investment in science and to bolster a dwindling economy, so in this sense economic pragmatism drives much of the science communication agenda. To a lesser degree, a desire to foster science appreciation within society is also a driver. It is apparent that the nation’s science agenda is influenced by the increasing politicising of science, and the communication of it

The effects of an outreach programme on the public understanding of science, engineering and technology

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a Technology Outreach Programme on Public Understanding of Science, Engineering and Technology (PUSET). The study further intended to give feedback to the management of the Tsebo Koloing Technology Outreach Programme, to assist them to make an informed decision with regard to the continuation, termination or revision of the existing programme, which represent a major investment of resources. It was also foreseen that the findings of this study could contribute towards the design and successful implementation of similar PUSET programmes elsewhere. To facilitate the understanding of the problem statement of this study, an evaluation framework based on the Context-Input-Process-Product (CIPP) model of Stufflebeam, Madaus&Kellaghan, (2000) was applied. The research was carried out at four secondary schools that were considered disadvantaged situated in townships near Pretoria, South Africa. Secondary school learners and science and technology teachers, who visited the Tsebo Koloing programme, as well as members of the executive committee of the programme, participated in the study. This study provided valuable insight into the understanding of the effects of the TK programme on learners and teachers in schools (particularly in a developing nation context) who visited the programme and how the extent to which the programme created and promoted PUSET furthermore this study emphasized the importance of programme evaluation and proper planning of S&T outreach programmes with regard to needs assessment; identification of target groups; programme design; programme development and content; as well as programme implementation and evaluation. Although valuable information was obtained from this research, there is still scope for further research on how to evaluate the effects of S&T programmes on PUSET as well as research on the effectiveness of mobile S&T programmes.Dissertation (MEd (Assessment and Quality Assurance in Education and Training))--University of Pretoria, 2007.Curriculum StudiesMEdunrestricte

Communicating Science

Modern science communication has emerged in the twentieth century as a field of study, a body of practice and a profession—and it is a practice with deep historical roots. We have seen the birth of interactive science centres, the first university actions in teaching and conducting research, and a sharp growth in employment of science communicators. This collection charts the emergence of modern science communication across the world. This is the first volume to map investment around the globe in science centres, university courses and research, publications and conferences as well as tell the national stories of science communication. How did it all begin? How has development varied from one country to another? What motivated governments, institutions and people to see science communication as an answer to questions of the social place of science? Communicating Science describes the pathways followed by 39 different countries. All continents and many cultures are represented. For some countries, this is the first time that their science communication story has been told

Communicating Science

Modern science communication has emerged in the twentieth century as a field of study, a body of practice and a profession—and it is a practice with deep historical roots. We have seen the birth of interactive science centres, the first university actions in teaching and conducting research, and a sharp growth in employment of science communicators. This collection charts the emergence of modern science communication across the world. This is the first volume to map investment around the globe in science centres, university courses and research, publications and conferences as well as tell the national stories of science communication. How did it all begin? How has development varied from one country to another? What motivated governments, institutions and people to see science communication as an answer to questions of the social place of science? Communicating Science describes the pathways followed by 39 different countries. All continents and many cultures are represented. For some countries, this is the first time that their science communication story has been told

Influences on the science teaching self efficacy beliefs of Australian primary school teachers

The science teaching self-efficacy beliefs of primary school teachers are influential on teaching practice. The purpose of this research was to determine if informal education institutions, such as science centres, could provide professional development that influenced the self-efficacy of pre-service and in-service primary school teachers, and to what extent this was influenced by their science background, years of teaching experience and external, environmental factors. Participants were also asked if places such as science centres had a role to play with, and for, teachers. A cohort of eight final year pre-service teachers and 13 in-service teachers (six from one New South Wales (NSW) school and seven from one Australian Capital Territory (ACT) school) completed a series of four one-hour workshops and were surveyed immediately before, immediately after, four months after and 11 months after the workshops. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were used in the data collection. The results of this research showed that four hours of science centre produced, professional development workshops were capable of increasing the science teaching self-efficacy of all but three participants, with observable results for at least 11 months after the completion of the workshops. The ACT in-service cohort showed the greatest overall gains in self-efficacy. The pre-service cohort showed greatest gains in confidence in, and enjoyment of, science teaching. The school environment of the in- service participant cohorts was a major determining factor of how their increased self- efficacy influenced their teaching practice, with positive and negative consequences. This thesis clearly demonstrated that the science education experienced by teachers in this study was highly influential in their own development of perceptions and beliefs about science that they, in turn, take to the classroom. This was just as applicable to newly graduated teachers as it was to those who have been teaching for over 20 years. Participants identified a role for science centres as a source of inspiration, support and training for teachers in order to help them teach science more effectively. This project showed that the informal education sector could enact positive reforms within science education, but only if the context in which teachers must operate is taken into account and reform efforts adapted accordingly. The informal science education sector could be the key to achieving long lasting reform in science education where other, formal measures have failed

Factors affecting engagement with informal science learning in Thailand: A regional perspective

Abstract There is currently minimal understanding as to how informal science learning affects young people’s scientific performance, attitudes and experiences at a regional level in Thailand. This thesis is the first to investigate this topic by examining the factors affecting engagement in science learning in regional informal settings. It focuses on ‘underserved’ students from remote schools with poor access to science learning in informal settings and educational support. This research aims to examine the impact of the activities offered by the Science Caravan, a travelling informal science learning activity, on young people in four regions of Thailand and to explore their informal science learning experiences, through five research questions; (1) What settings or resources are available to young people for informal science learning at the regional level?; (2) What are the main factors affecting the experiences of Thai young people in informal science learning?; (3) How do informal science learning activities meet the needs of different learners?; (4) What learning and other outcomes do young people obtain from participating in regional informal science activities?; and (5) How can this learning be applied to other informal science communication projects at the regional level?The research draws on a number of key theoretical models, including cognitive and social constructivism, which is used to examine how participants obtained and constructed their knowledge via engagement with informal science activities (Berkeley Graduate Division, 2017; Van Der Veer, 2007). Falk and Dierking’s (2000) contextual learning model is utilised to investigate personal, physical and social factors affecting the informal science learning experiences of young people. Finally, the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) are used to examine the outcomes of learning achieved from engagement with informal science activities comprised within the Science Caravan (Art Council England, 2017). Mixed methods were used in this research, which employed triangulation to achieve convergence of results from two different methods (Greene, Caracelli, and Graham, 1989; Bryman, 2006 cited by Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). Pre and post engagement questionnaires were designed to collect quantitative data from 1,400 participants across four different regions (350 participants for each region). Semi-structured interviews were employed for in-depth exploration of the experiences of 40 young people (10 participants for each region), 20 teachers (five teachers for each regions) and 22 National Science Museum, Thailand staff (two directors and 20 science communicators). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to identify the changes in attitudes towards science and scientific knowledge from pre- and post-caravan responses taken from the same individual. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to investigate independent data comprising more than two independent groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test when two independent variables were being explored (Field, 2009). For qualitative data analysis, inductive thematic analysis (TA) was used to capture any themes within the interview results (Braun and Clarke, 2013). This research identifies a number of key settings and resources which are available to young people regionally, including the public library, the school library, internet resources, as well as local national parks, zoos, science museums and discovery centres. The location of the informal learning setting, its accessibility and usefulness are significant factors that influence in the uptake of informal learning by local young people. Beyond these resources, factors effecting young peoples’ engagement with informal science learning include schools, teachers, family, friends, the government and other organisations (e.g. local university and local community institutes), with schools and teachers being the most significant factors in promoting informal science learning for young people based in different regions of Thailand. The results suggest that young people learn from informal science activities both as individual learners and via social interaction. The results show that participants obtained and constructed their scientific knowledge and understanding by watching and observing activities, performing experiments, repeating activities and using experiences to solve science problems. Additionally, they also observed, discussed and shared information with others. Over 50% of participants has post-test knowledge scores which were higher than their pre-test scores, with participants in the Northeast showing the greatest improvement in terms of their post-test scores. There were minimal differences by region, age and gender in terms of which types of science activities were most popular with participants. The results also present evidence of changing attitudes towards science and technology, amongst young people following engagement with the informal science activities, including a growing awareness of the relevance of science and technology to life, as well as the complexity of science and its role within society. In examining the learning outcomes from engaging, most participants showed high levels of agreement that the learning outcomes had been met, wanted to be involved in the activities and were following instructions. Over 80% of all of participants indicated attaining new scientific knowledge, promoting development of social skills, increasing self-confidence in presenting ideas in front of others, enjoying science activities, using knowledge from the science caravan to support learning in school, and sharing information to encourage science awareness to others after engagement with the Science Caravan. Older participants aged 13-15 and females were more likely to want to be involved in science activities, to read instructions, and to anticipate using their learning at school. Additionally, local teachers obtained new scientific knowledge and gained new ideas for teaching science. Finally, three significant factors were identified in response to the five research questions; contexts of informal learning, knowledge construction and learning outcome. This research proposes a model based on these three contexts which can be used to investigate other contexts, other informal learning settings and different participants to expand knowledge and understanding in this area. This study of contextual learning, knowledge construction processes and outcomes from engagement with the Science Caravan can lead to further development of the Science Caravan, and this knowledge can also be applied to investigate other regional informal learning projects that may be occurring internationally