Implementing and Evaluating Mentored Chemistry-Biology Technology Lab Modules To Promote Early Interest in Science (original) (raw)
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Chemistry Outreach Program and its Impact on Secondary School Students
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012
Chemistry is one of the most difficult subjects and usually feared by the students in elementary schools. Some of the students in Malaysia, especially in the rural area, they memorized experiments and the theories without really understand the beauty of chemistry. They also believed that the chemistry experiment can only be done in the laboratory equipped with a huge fume hood since all of the experiments are dangerous, explosive and costly. Chemistry outreach program held by a team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia was meant to change the perspective of the elementary students towards chemistry and to develop their interest in exploring the beauty of chemistry. The program took place in Perlis as part of the Science on Wheels Program organized by National Science Centre. Few experiments using chemicals which can be found in daily life were first demonstrated and explained. Then the students were given chances to try on their own. They were also asked to relate what they had learned from the experiments to the phenomenon that occurred in the world. Survey on knowing their interest in chemistry before and after the experiments was given and analyzed. The results showed that the level of liking chemistry and choosing chemistry as one of the career option depended mainly on the exposure towards chemistry. The result showed that 80% of the students were interested in chemistry after they performed the experiments compared to 72% who were interested in the chemistry subject taught in school prior to the experiment. The 8% increment was possibly a reflection of the effective learning through experiment. Overall, 58% of students were interested to choose chemistry as their future career and suprisingly it was not depended on the background of the family. The chemistry outreach program really gave the impact on the elementary students and reached their hearts and should be continued from time to time to attract students to science and technology.
The Journal of STEM Outreach, 2020
Educational inequity is widely prevalent in United States (U.S.) public schools and creates barriers to STEM education for underserved and underrepresented populations, including racial minority, low-income, and first-generation college students. Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) recognized a need in its community, the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area, to improve access to high-quality STEM education, and founded the WRAIR Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science (GEMS) program for this purpose. In pursuit of this goal, the GEMS program engages students using innovative learning strategies and authentic STEM experiences with the hopes of fostering interest in STEM and motivating more underserved and underrepresented students to persist in STEM education and career pathways. By 1995, WRAIR scientists began investigating how to bring science-enthusiastic but novice high school (HS) students into their laboratories where they could be mentored, along with providing a stipend to mitigate financial barriers; importantly, this process was funded by two Science Education Partnership Awards from 2001-2006. Each year, WRAIR's GEMS program now guides about 600-700 local middle and HS students to take part in hands-on, inquiry-based STEM laboratory investigations led by undergraduate "near peer mentors" (NPMs), so named due to their close age to participants. GEMS is now sustained at 14 sites nationwide through the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program, and serve about 4,000 students and near-peer mentors annually. Recent evaluations of the program explore service to underrepresented groups in STEM and growth of the local program. Further evaluation of the nationwide programs reveals positive student feedback, especially regarding working with NPMs and hands-on learning.
Scenes from a Science Classroom: An Enrichment Program Experience
1994
To increase the representation of African Americans in science fields, potential candidates must have positive personal science experiences. Even with recent reforms, most students in the United States have a limited exposure to science experiences, especially African American students. One approach to addressing this problem has been to offer science enrichment programs for African Americans, as in Atlanta's Saturday Science Academy. The science experiences gained at this program are obtained through laboratory experiments and social interaction. Laboratory experiences enable the students to encounter science in a hands-on manner, use science equipment, question the world around them, and succeed in reaching attainable goals. The social experiences include attending the program at an historically Black university where African American children can interact with other African American students with similar interests. This document is a case study that discusses the science aspect of the Saturday Science Academy and examines how the Academy establishes an environment which supports positive lab and social ex?eriences for African American students (n=24).
How does a high school outreach program engage our future scientists?
The Secondary School Enrichment Program (SSEP) is one of the outreach initiatives developed in the Faculty of Science, The University of New South Wales (UNSW). In the face of declining enrolments in the enabling sciences, the program seeks to foster a culture of academic generosity by bringing our current and future scientists together to participate in authentic scientific research. Developed jointly with a local, non-selective but high performing secondary school, the SSEP aims to draw talented students into university science degree programs, particularly in the enabling science disciplines. The SSEP provides secondary school students with an insight into university campus life and how research is conducted via their participation in a research project, under the mentorship of science PhD students. Since its inception three years ago, the program has obtained consistently positive feedback from the participants. However, in order to better understand the benefits of such a program, this paper investigates the program’s perceived educational benefits for these students through pre- and post-program surveys. The program’s effectiveness will be defined in terms of (a) students’ interest in science; (b) providing an authentic scientific experience, (c) introduction to campus life, and (d) increased interest in tertiary study, tertiary study of science and study at UNSW. Here, we share our experiences in developing and coordinating the program, and evaluating its success in achieving the above objectives. Discussion will focus on exploring the usefulness of such programs to reinvigorate interest in tertiary study in science, and the feasibility of expanding the program.
An Assessment Of Long Term Impacts Of Three On Campus K 12 Enrichment Programs
2010
Research suggests that exposure to STEM activities during the K-12 years stimulates interest in STEM careers and pursuing post-secondary education. This study examines three K12 engineering enrichment programs and their influence on college enrollment and graduation rates for past participants of the programs. The programs, conducted by a large public university in the mid-Atlantic, target women and underrepresented minorities and draw most of the program participants from the surrounding economically disadvantaged counties. The first program is week-long summer day camp targeting middle school students. The second is a yearlong program hosting two events each semester targeting minority sophomores and seniors. The third is a 2-week overnight summer camp for junior and senior women. To assess the long-term impact of these programs on interest in engineering, we performed telephone surveys of former participants. For each group of participants, a ten-year period was selected which co...
Increasing Science Achievement for Disadvantaged Students. ERIC/CUE Digest Number 25
1985
A number of recent studies have yielded data on the factors affecting the science achievement of disadvantaged students. For example, it was found that students' socioeconomic status (SES) increased as a predictor of their science achievement as the students moved through school. Furthermore, the effect of being Black (or, to a lessr degree, Hispanic) was similar to the effect of SES. Black students were shown in one study to perform best on science exercises most dependent on daily experience and common knowledge, and poorest on those that involve z detached research attitude toward the object and phenomena of scit... 3. Other studies found that poor and minority students are most affected by classroom factors such as too little time spent on science instruction and too much time spent on discipline, that Black students' science career plans are generally less related to their abilities than are Whites' plans, and that minority interest in science apparently does not lead to choosing the approrriate high school 'subjects for entering a science major in college. The research suggests a complex pool of attitudes and motivations that indirectly affect minority science preparation and the choice of a science career. These include attitudes and aspirations, stereotyping, role models, general academic success, cultural values, and parental influence and support. Research also suggests that the school counselor for whom ethnicity or sex make no difference can play a most important role in increasing enrollment of the disadvantaged it nonrequired science and mathematics courses.
Ethnicity & Disease
The Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) R25- funded training grant, designed to increase the pipeline of underrepresented minority (URM) students entering college and pursuing biomedical research and health care careers in the Cleveland Metropolitan and surrounding school districts. The three components of the program include: Learn to Beat Cancer, engaging middle school students and their families; Research to Beat Cancer, designed for high school students and college undergraduates; and Teach to Beat Cancer, focused on enhancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching capacity among high school teachers. This study focuses on Research to Beat Cancer, which, in 2018 enrolled 36 URM students as paid summer scholars. Students were assigned to a faculty mentor, were taught laboratory safety, responsible conduct of research and the scientific method, and then immersed in full-time la...
Engineering Students In K 12 Schools
2000 Annual Conference Proceedings
There is a wealth of knowledge and information to be shared between elementary, particularly K-5, students and college engineering students. Increasingly, children are deciding on those subjects they like and dislike (and therefore do and don't do) as early as elementary school. Anecdotal evidence suggests that females, in particular, lose interest in math and science in midelementary school. An innovative new program in North Carolina's Wake County is attempting to influence the academic choices of the elementary student, particularly young girls and underrepresented minorities. This is the pilot year of an NSF funded program that places college of engineering students as resources at public elementary schools. By using graduate and undergraduate engineering students as science resources, the children are exposed early to the idea of science, math and/or engineering as a college, and therefore career, choice. The engineering students benefit as well, learning valuable communication skills that will enhance their marketability upon graduation. The ability to explain complex science to children requires confidence and technical knowledge. The ability to impart this knowledge in a useful way is a much sought after skill in the workplace. The school benefits from the early exposure to SMET, and teachers benefit by their participation in workshops and training sessions on incorporating science into daily lessons. An additional unique aspect of the program lies in its addressing the topic of teaching of science to special needs children. Special needs in our population include ESL (English as a second language), hearing impaired and visually impaired students. Incorporation of these special needs in teaching SMET is a key part of our program. Benefits to the K-12 schools include curriculum that integrates science, technology, and engineering topics with math, reading, and writing. Benefits to the Fellows include improved communication skills and self-image.