This paper examines how students, teachers, and parents evaluate residential fieldwork courses. As in prior research, findings from questionnaire data indicate that fieldwork effects social, affective, and behavioural learning. More surprisingly, focus group interviews captured increases in cognitive learning as well. This paper underscores the value of out-of-school experiences, particularly for students from under-resourced backgrounds.
This paper explores how science-aspiring girls balance their aspirations and achievement with societal expectations of femininity. In-depth interviews revealed two models that the girls tended to follow, termed feminine scientist or bluestocking scientist, and the precarious nature of both of these identities. Archer et al. suggest ways that practitioners can better support girls in their balancing acts.
Front-line educators are arguably critical to the visitor experience at museums and science centers across the country. However, little research exists to inform staff facilitation strategies or professional development efforts. In this article, we describe the results of a qualitative study of 63 staff family interactions in a science center, focusing particularly on the role of adult family members. We observed three distinct phases of interaction, during which adult family members acted as gatekeepers to deeper staff engagement. The results suggest that in order to successfully facilitate
Parents and children are rapidly adopting mobile technologies, yet designs for mobile devices that serve a communication function to connect parents to children's out-of-school time activities are limited. As a result, our team designed the Digital Postcard Maker so that children attending summer camps can create digital photographs to send home to their parents. These digital postcards help to connect children's home life with out-of-school learning experiences and also support 21st Century Skills' media literacy practices. The research design included two iterations of a design-based
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Heather ZimmermanChristopher GamratSimon Hooper
The article discusses a study conducted by the University of Waterloo, reported by researcher Daniela O'Neill, regarding the acquisition of knowledge by children concerning animals when a picture book is read aloud. Topics include a comparison of picture books and vocabulary books, the use of generic language used by mothers when reading aloud, and additional animal facts provided when reading either book.
Data from 15 countries suggest that positive parental attitudes toward science are associated with higher student achievement in science. The findings also indicate that socioeconomic status has no effect on the relationship between parental attitudes and student achievement: Poorer students benefit just as much from positive parental attitudes as richer students.
How and why students develop productive science learning identities is a key issue for the education community (see Bell et al, 2009). Carlone, Scott, and Lowder describe the changes in the science identities of three students as they move from fourth to sixth grade. The authors discuss the processes — heavily mediated by race, class, and gender — by which the students position themselves, or are positioned by others, as being more or less competent learners in science.
There is growing evidence that children develop science-related interests in early childhood, before they enter school, and that these interests may have long-term implications for science participation and achievement. Although researchers have made headway in describing interest development in the preschool years, little is currently known about the proximal processes influencing early childhood interests and how these relate to other more distal factors, such as parent beliefs and attitudes. To address this gap, I conducted a two-phase, mixed-method study, involving an initial cross