Practical steps to building science capital in the primary classroom

An exploration of how meeting with engineers and scientists and other initiatives can help to increase science capita

Paired peer learning through engineering education outreach

© 2016 SEFI. Undergraduate education incorporating active learning and vicarious experience through education outreach presents a critical opportunity to influence future engineering teaching and practice capabilities. Engineering education outreach activities have been shown to have multiple benefits; increasing interest and engagement with science and engineering for school children, providing teachers with expert contributions to engineering subject knowledge, and developing professional generic skills for engineers such as communication and teamwork. This pilot intervention paired 10 pre-service teachers and 11 student engineers to enact engineering outreach in primary schools, reaching 269 children. A longitudinal mixed methods design was employed to measure change in attitudes and Education Outreach Self-Efficacy in student engineers; alongside attitudes, Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy and Engineering Subject Knowledge Confidence in pre-service teachers. Highly significant improvements were noted in the pre-service teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, while both the teachers and engineers qualitatively described benefits arising from the paired peer mentor model

Observing eruptions of gas-rich compressible magmas from space

Observations of volcanoes from space are a critical component of volcano monitoring, but we lack quantitative integrated models to interpret them. The atmospheric sulfur yields of eruptions are variable and not well correlated with eruption magnitude and for many eruptions the volume of erupted material is much greater than the subsurface volume change inferred from ground displacements. Up to now, these observations have been treated independently, but they are fundamentally linked. If magmas are vapour-saturated before eruption, bubbles cause the magma to become more compressible, resulting in muted ground displacements. The bubbles contain the sulfur-bearing vapour injected into the atmosphere during eruptions. Here we present a model that allows the inferred volume change of the reservoir and the sulfur mass loading to be predicted as a function of reservoir depth and the magma’s oxidation state and volatile content, which is consistent with the array of natural data

Children as engineers: Paired peer mentors in primary schools final report summary July 2015

◾It’s been forecast that a further 100,000 new professionals are needed to fill the skills gap by 2020. It is becoming increasingly important that student engineers gain opportunities to practise their public engagement and education outreach skills to influence public perceptions of engineering, and connect science with society (Research Councils UK, 2010; National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, 2010).◾Teachers are a key audience with which to engage, as only 5% of primary school teachers have a science related degree (Department for Education, 2013). Although subject knowledge is not seen as essential for effective pedagogy, a lack of confidence and understanding can result in a style of teaching which reduces pupils’ performance, engagement and enjoyment with the subject (Ofsted, 2011).◾In this project, student engineers and pre-service teachers were paired up to mentor each other and enact hands-on challenges designed to demonstrate the Engineering Design Process to primary schoolchildren.◾The project appeared to be successful on all levels for the different participant groups. Quantitatively the student engineers showed an improvement in their perceived level of skills, with a 42% improvement in the proportion who felt they were now ‘fairly well equipped’ to undertake public engagement; over two-thirds (64%) of the engineers gave this rating following the project. Additionally, 70% of the engineers indicated that they thought they are now likely to be ‘more active’ in public engagement. Qualitatively, the student engineers indicated that that they had learnt organisational and communication skills through taking part, and felt that they had passed on some of their science and engineering subject knowledge and enthusiasm to the teachers and children.◾The paired peer partnership model was also positively reviewed by the pre-service teachers. Quantitative data indicated that the teachers showed significant increases in their science and engineering subject knowledge confidence levels as well as in teaching self-efficacy for both subjects. 80% of the pre-service teachers who participated stated that they would undertake similar work with children in the future. Many teachers asserted that the ‘expert’ knowledge gained had also benefitted and influenced the pupils in their class.◾Children who took part in the project had increased positive attitudes to the subjects of science and engineering in quantitative assessments. The project improved children’s knowledge of what an engineer does and their attitudes towards the profession through greater information about engineering and the experience of real life role models. The data also indicated a slight positive shift in children’s attitudes to science and engineering career aspirations along with gender and engineering identities

ENGINEER: Evaluation and analysis of the project impact

An evaluation report analysing the impact of the EU funded ENGINEER project, intended to design and implement materials to promote engineering in primary schools across Europe through science and technology. The report examines impact on teaching and learning in schools and science and technology centres in ten EU countries

The role of pre-eruptive gas segregation on co-eruptive deformation and SO2 emissions

The presence of exsolved gas bubbles influences measurements of both volcanic surface deformation and SO2 emissions. In a closed-system, exsolved volatiles remain within the melt but in an open-system, the decoupled gas phase can either outgas or accumulate, leading to large variations magmatic gas fraction. Here we investigate the role of gas volume fraction and gas segregation processes on magma properties and co-eruptive monitoring data. First we use thermodynamic models of gas exsolution to model gas volume fraction and magma compressibility, and use these to calculate SO2 emissions and co-eruptive volume change. We find that volume change is equally sensitive to magma compressibility and chamber compressibility over realistic parameters ranges, and both must be considered when interpreting surface deformation data. Reservoir depth and magma composition are the dominant controls on gas volume fraction, but the initial content of H2O and S have strong influences on volume change and SO2 emissions, respectively. Pre-eruptive gas accumulation produces increased SO2 emissions and muted co-eruptive deformation, while degassing has the opposite effect. We then compare our models to a compilation of data from 20 recent eruptions where measurements of volume change, SO2 emissions and erupted volume are available. To the first order, shallow reservoirs produce smaller volume changes per volume erupted and silica-poor magmas yield greater co-eruptive volume changes than silica-rich systems, consistent with closed system degassing.  Co-eruptive degassing causes high SO2 emissions during effusive eruptions. Comparison between model predictions and observations suggests that all magmatic systems experience a certain degree of outgassing prior to an eruption. Our findings are consistent with current conceptual models of transcrustal magmatic systems consisting of heterogeneous mixtures of gas and melt and have important implications for the interpretation of surface deformation and SO2 emission signals at all stages of the eruption cycle.

Engineering science education: The impact of a paired peer approach on subject knowledge confidence and self-efficacy levels of student teachers

Teacher performance has been linked with both self-efficacy and subject knowledge confidence suggesting that it is important to address these aspects within initial teacher training programmes. This study investigated the development of pre-service teacher’s science and engineering subject knowledge confidence and teaching self-efficacy following participation in a paired-peer, multidisciplinary STEM project and assesses which aspects of the work may have resulted in any changes observed. A group of 10 pre-service teachers were paired with undergraduate engineering students to develop science through engineering challenges and to enact these with children. Multimethod pre and post evaluation assessed the impact of participation on the subject knowledge confidence and teaching self-efficacy levels of the pre-service teachers, alongside qualitatively exploring possible reasons for any changes. Results indicated that significant increases in both subject knowledge confidence and teaching self-efficacy had occurred. In exploring which aspects of the work may have contributed to these changes, data suggested that the paired-peer aspect of the project may have been beneficial. Immersing pre-service teachers in similar collaborative projects early in their career may provide opportunities to shape positive dispositions towards STEM subjects for pre-service teachers and so evaluations of how this can be built into teacher training programmes are required

Primary pathways: Elementary pupils’ aspiration to be engineers and STEM subject interest

Across Europe, there is concern about the number and diversity of pupils taking study routes leading to Engineering. There is growing evidence that these career choices begin to form at elementary school age (Moote et al., 2020). Science, maths and design and technology are seen as subject choices necessary for pupils’ progression into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related occupations. Achievement in these subjects, identity, gender attitudes to the subjects, parents and informal activities may have an impact on these career choices. This mixed methods research draws on participants in the Children as Engineers project to investigate aspirations to a career in engineering and the links between these aspirations and attitudes to STEM subjects. It explores findings that suggest that there is little relationship between aspirations and positive attitudes to individual curriculum subjects. Pupils’ out-of-school activities and the links to aspirations in engineering are also researched and discussed. The article discusses the pupils’ rationales for these choices and the implications for intervention and informal engineering experiences that rely on a science and maths context for elementary school activities and for fostering interest in engineering

Temporal Evolution of the Magmatic System at Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador, detected by geodetic observations

Changes in the pathway and timescale of magma ascent can be responsible for variations in eruptive style during long-lived eruptions, but are only documented at a small number of well-instrumented systems. Here we integrate PS-InSAR from high resolution TerraSAR-X radar imagery with continuous GPS data from 4 sites at Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador. Our results show long-term uplift between 2011-2014 associated with a continuously in ating prolate reservoir at a depth of 10 km beneath the summit. Comparisons with eruptive flux, taking compressibility into account, suggest that during this time period slightly over half the magma supplied to the system was erupted. The observations span three distinct phases of eruption and in 2012-2013, an increase in eruptive activity was accompanied by uplift on the volcano's western flank. Similar episodes have previously been observed during large Vulcanian eruptions and we attribute them to intrusions into an area of mechanical weakness. A localised patch of subsidence mid-way up the Tungurahua's western flank is co-located with a swarm of shallow long-period seismicity and may represent a potential site for a development of a lateral vent. This study demonstrates that satellite geodetic techniques are capable of characterising the geodetic signature of transitions in eruptive style during long-lived andesitic eruptions although the deformation is cm-scale of steep volcanic edi fices.NERC Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonic

Diffuse degassing at Longonot volcano, Kenya: implications for CO2 flux in continental rifts

Magma movement, fault structures and hydrothermal systems influence volatile emissions at rift volcanoes. Longonot is a Quaternary caldera volcano located in the southern Kenyan Rift, where regional extension controls recent shallow magma ascent. Here we report the results of a soil carbon dioxide (CO2) survey in the vicinity of Longonot volcano, as well as fumarolic gas compositions and carbon isotope data. The total non-biogenic CO2 degassing is estimated at < 300 kg d− 1, and is largely controlled by crater faults and fractures close to the summit. Thus, recent volcanic structures, rather than regional tectonics, control fluid pathways and degassing. Fumarolic gases are characterised by a narrow range in carbon isotope ratios (δ13C), from − 4.7‰ to − 6.4‰ (vs. PDB) suggesting a magmatic origin with minor contributions from biogenic CO2. Comparison with other degassing measurements in the East African Rift shows that records of historical eruptions or unrest do not correspond directly to the magnitude of CO2 flux from volcanic centres, which may instead reflect the current size and characteristics of the subsurface magma reservoir. Interestingly, the integrated CO2 flux from faulted rift basins is reported to be an order of magnitude higher than that from any of the volcanic centres for which CO2 surveys have so far been reporte