The Role of Informal Science Centers in Science Education: Attitudes, Skills, and Self-efficacy

Abstract

Informal learning relates to actvites that occur outside the school environment. These learning environments, such as visits to science centers provide valuable motvatonal opportunites for students to learn science. The purpose of this study was to investgate the role of the pre-academic center in science educaton and partcularly to explore its efects on 750 middle-school students' attudes toward science, their scientfc thinking skills and self-efcacy. Pre and post-case based questonnaires were designed to assess the students' higher order thinking skills-inquiry, graphing, and argumentaton. In additon, a fve-point Likert scale questonnaire was used to assess students' attudes and self-efcacy. The research results indicated a positve efect of the pre-academic science center actvites on scientfc thinking skills. A signifcant improvement in the students' inquiry and graphing skills was found, yet non signifcant diferences were found in argumentaton skill. The students signifcantly improved their ability to ask research questons based on reading a scientfc text, and to describe and analyze research results that were presented graphically. While no signifcant diferences were found between girls and boys in the pre-questonnaire, in the post-questonnaire the girls' scores in inquiry skill were signifcantly higher than boys' scores. Increases in students' positve attudes toward science and self-efcacy were found but the results were not statstcally signifcant. However, the program length was found to be an important variable that afects achievement of educatonal goals. A three-dimensionbased framework is suggested to characterize learning environments: organizatonal, psychological, and pedagogical.

Emotional and motivational outcomes of lab work in the secondary intermediate track: The contribution of a science center outreach lab

“…Students’ emotional and motivational outcomes are likely to be improved by adding a wider range of experimental and methodological designs (Hausamann, ) of scientific inquiry in a SCOL or school setting. Previous studies have shown that while out‐of‐school visits in science centers and students laboratories occasionally result in enhancement of students’ STEM interest and knowledge immediately after a visit, this is, however, only a spurious effect with a reduction after few months (Barmby et al, ; Jarvis & Pell, ; Sasson, ); SCOLs were not able to spark long‐term interest in school science or interest in socioscientific issues.…”

“…Previous research recommended the more seamless integration of in‐ and out‐of‐school learning (Rahm & Moore, ). A Science Center Outreach Lab (SCOL) is a powerful opportunity for students to see how real scientists work in authentic context (Braund & Reiss, ; Schwan, Grajal, & Lewalter, ), to try it out themselves “hands‐on” and see that they can really do science (Sasson, ). Moreover, a SCOL incites curiosity, emotional appeal, and connects with many positive expectations of teachers and students (e.g., improvement in attitudes, everyday life relevant content, content knowledge gains, and new experiences; Garner & Eilks, ).…”

“…In fact, previous research has suggested that out‐of‐school encounters have the potential to offer several emotional benefits such as increased joy and excitement (Rennie & McClafferty, ), increased well‐being, less anger, less anxiety, and less boredom (Randler, Ilg, & Kern, ). However, the majority of studies that have analyzed the effects of SCOL visits (Hausamann, ; Thomas, ) and related learning settings (Rennie, ; Sasson, ; Sasson & Cohen, ) on students’ learning performance and motivation have had some limitations. Previous studies have relied on small sample sizes ( N < 400) with the exception of Sasson and Cohen () as well as Seybold, Braunbeck, and Randler () and several did not use a randomized design implemented in a multilevel context, with the exception of, for example, Itzek‐Greulich et al ().…”

Okul Dışı Öğrenme ve Öğretim Mekânları Olarak Bilim Merkezleri: Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmen Adaylarının Deneyimi

“…gibi informal bilim ortamlarından biri olan bilim merkezleri de öğrencilerin bilim öğrenmesini desteklemek için esnek ve yaratıcı ortamlar sağlar (Salmi 1993, Chin 2004. Tipik bir bilim merkezi, bilimsel kavramları ve uygulamaları aktarmak amacıyla ziyaretçilere doğrudan, kendinden tempolu, sözel olmayan deneyimler, nesneler ve görseller sunar (Rahm, 2004) ve böylelikle bilim merkezlerine yapılan ziyaretler, öğrencilerin bilim öğrenmesi için değerli motivasyon fırsatları sağlar (Sasson, 2014). Bilim eğitimi alanı, sadece anaokulundan yüksek araştırma enstitülerine kadar olan örgün eğitim sistemini değil, aynı zamanda modern toplumun, teknolojinin ve kültürün informal etkilerini de içeren geniş ve karmaşık bir yapıya sahiptir (Salmi, 1993).…”

Adolescent Adventures in Geology: Impacts of Geoscience-focused STEM Education Combined with Recreation Activities on Adolescents’ Perceived Self-Efficacy

“…This rigidity is due to the increased focus on high-stakes test scores (Berliner, 2011;Cheryan et al, 2014;Gerber et al, 2001;Rogoff et al, 2016;Sasson, 2014;Toomey Zimmerman & Bell, 2012). In addition to aiding in moving away from these issues, the informal learning setting may be better equipped to deal with many problems related to youth challenges than formal education can.…”