The Student-to-Student Chemistry Initiative: Training High School Students To Perform Chemistry Demonstration Programs for Elementary School Students

Voegel, Phillip D.; Quashnock, Kathryn A.; Heil, Katrina M.

doi:10.1021/ed081p681

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…In this work, SSCI's impact on elementary school students is examined quantitatively. Similar statistical analyses are found in our analysis of the high school training portion of SSCI (16) and one report where a four question post-performance survey was employed (6). Extensive analyses of the relationship between student attitude and success in elementary school science classes (17), high school chemistry classes (18), and college chemistry classes (19) have been published.…”

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confidence: 63%

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The Student-to-Student Chemistry Initiative: The Impact of Chemistry Demonstration Programs Presented by High School Students at Elementary Schools

2005

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The effectiveness of the student-to-student chemistry initiative in changing the attitudes of elementary school students towards science is analyzed. High school students trained by the Midwestern State University department of chemistry performed a series of chemistry demonstrations at elementary schools. The elementary school students completed identical surveys before and after the demonstrations. These surveys documented the impact of the program on elementary school studentsâ€™ general attitudes toward science, interest in scientific careers, and increased awareness of chemical processes they often encounter in their lives. The survey results reveal statistically significant improvements in all three areas of analysis (p < 0.02 in all cases).

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confidence: 63%

“…Similar programs are reported where high school teachers have trained their students to perform demonstration programs at elementary schools (13)(14)(15). SSCI's impact on high school students was described in an earlier report (16). In this work, SSCI's impact on elementary school students is examined quantitatively.…”

mentioning

confidence: 65%

The Student-to-Student Chemistry Initiative: The Impact of Chemistry Demonstration Programs Presented by High School Students at Elementary Schools

2005

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“…In the classroom, they develop hands on/inquiry based activities. Once again different types were found:  One-off initiatives such as chemistry demonstrations carried out by graduate students of the Midwestern state University Outreach programme (Voegel et al, 2004) or the extensive chemical magic show Promotion of Chemistry in Schools Project that reached directly 8500 students in 67 schools with a total of 192 shows in Ireland (Regan, 2009);  After school enrichment programs that follow the same set of students for the four years of their post-primary education. One example is the Computer Sciences programme from the Harvey Mudd College (Dodds and Karp, 2006).…”

Section: Outreach Practices In Primary and Secondary Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dialectical dividends: fostering hybridity of new pedagogical practices and partnerships in science education and outreach

Gomes

McCauley

2016

International Journal of Science Education

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Internationally, science literacy has become socially and economically very important. Many European countries, including Ireland, stress that science and technology graduates are fundamental for economic growth. Nevertheless, there is a recognized trend of diminishing interest in science by students. In response, there has been a call to change the way science is taught in schools which focuses on inquiry methods rooted in constructivism, and for further encouragement of students to pursue science degrees. Specifically at primary level, there is a recurrent view that teachers lack the confidence and pedagogical knowledge to teach science by inquiry. Universities and other organizations have responded by developing science outreach programmes to improve student engagement in science, and to promote inquiry in the classroom. Given this context, there is a necessity for research in this area to ascertain if this new relationship between outreach and education is worthwhile, and therefore the analysis and comparison of both fields warranted. This study examines and compares primary teachers' and outreach practitioners' understanding and perceptions of constructivist science pedagogy in an effort to understand the potential of the teacher-outreach symbiotic partnership. A mixed-methods approach was employed. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey was completed by 149 teachers and 89 outreach practitioners and semi-structured interviews, presenting constructivist dilemmatic cases were carried out with 31 teachers and 30 outreach practitioners. The results obtained contradict the view that teachers do not have a strong science pedagogical sense, and are resistant to constructivist approaches. Both teachers and outreach providers revealed favourable views in relation to constructivism, despite recognizing barriers to its implementation. These results move the mind-set away from one that assumes the teacher lacks this pedagogical knowledge towards one that supports the teacher-outreach symbiotic partnership and the realisation of the hybrid role of each participants. The results obtained have also revealed an important gatekeeper dynamic in outreach access to schools. The study ends with implications and recommendations derived from these conclusions. vi Papers and Conference Proceedings Gomes, D. and McCauley, V. (2014). Why do we teach science: four arguments for teaching science and the role of science outreach. Chemistry in Action. 2 (103) pp. 24-6.

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“…In addition to receiving community service hours (which are required for graduation) for this outreach time, the high school students also gain leadership experience. 25 To provide further educational benefit to the high school students, the entire AP chemistry class visits the UO twice per year outside of class time to perform advanced laboratory experiments in UO teaching or research labs. The students are exposed to state-of-the-art instrumentation which otherwise would not be accessible to high school laboratories.…”

Section: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To recruit high-school volunteers, we partnered with the Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry class of a local high school into which the middle school we targeted in the outreach activity feeds. In addition to receiving community service hours (which are required for graduation) for this outreach time, the high school students also gain leadership experience . To provide further educational benefit to the high school students, the entire AP chemistry class visits the UO twice per year outside of class time to perform advanced laboratory experiments in UO teaching or research labs.…”

Section: Program Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboration and Near-Peer Mentoring as a Platform for Sustainable Science Education Outreach

et al. 2015

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Decreased funding for middle and high school education has resulted in reduced classroom time, which, when coupled with an increased focus on standardized testing, has decreased the exposure of many middle school students to hands-on science education. To help address these challenges, we developed an integrated outreach program, spanning grades 6−12, designed to engage students by bringing students to the University of Oregon to perform hands-on laboratory experiments. Initially developed to supplement science education lost to state-mandated furlough days, the programmatic design can be applied readily in other contexts including afterschool, weekend, or summer programs. The outreach activities and scaffolding rely heavily on near-peer mentoring, which provides a visible pathway for younger students to envision themselves as future scientists while also providing mentoring and leadership opportunities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. The use of near-peer mentoring is also critically important for the program's sustainability because it enables a more efficient allocation of graduate student and faculty time. In the first 2.5 years, over 450 middle school students have participated in the program and student feedback shows that students are engaged and excited about the outreach activities.

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The Student-to-Student Chemistry Initiative: Training High School Students To Perform Chemistry Demonstration Programs for Elementary School Students

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

The Student-to-Student Chemistry Initiative: The Impact of Chemistry Demonstration Programs Presented by High School Students at Elementary Schools

The Student-to-Student Chemistry Initiative: The Impact of Chemistry Demonstration Programs Presented by High School Students at Elementary Schools

Dialectical dividends: fostering hybridity of new pedagogical practices and partnerships in science education and outreach

Collaboration and Near-Peer Mentoring as a Platform for Sustainable Science Education Outreach

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