Air Toxics Under the Big Sky: examining the effectiveness of authentic scientific research on high school students’ science skills and interest

Air Toxics Under the Big Sky is an environmental science outreach/education program that incorporates the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) 8 Practices with the goal of promoting knowledge and understanding of authentic scientific research in high school classrooms through air quality research. This research explored: (1) how the program affects student understanding of scientific inquiry and research and (2) how the open-inquiry learning opportunities provided by the program increase student interest in science as a career path. Treatment students received instruction related to air pollution (airborne particulate matter), associated health concerns, and training on how to operate air quality testing equipment. They then participated in a yearlong scientific research project in which they developed and tested hypotheses through research of their own design regarding the sources and concentrations of air pollution in their homes and communities. Results from an external evaluation revealed that treatment students developed a deeper understanding of scientific research than did comparison students, as measured by their ability to generate good hypotheses and research designs, and equally expressed an increased interest in pursuing a career in science. These results emphasize the value of and need for authentic science learning opportunities in the modern science classroom.     

What do you need to know to teach science in the primary school?

Conclusion Primary teachers will continue to be confronted with topics about which they themselves may not share the understandings of experts in the area. They are surely not alone there. Secondary and tertiary science teachers who have more extensive backgrounds find themselves in the same situation. Increasing the number of areas in which primary teachers share the understandings of scientists would be of value. However the data of this study suggest that it would also be worthwhile to focus attention on the strategies and understandings they may use to increase their familiarity with scientist's understandings of natural phenomena. The Interactive Teaching Approach (Biddulph and Osborne, 1984) offers an appropriate model for such activity.     

Comparing first- and third-person perspectives in early elementary learning of honeybee systems

Prior literature has begun to demonstrate that even young children can learn about complex systems using participatory simulations. This study disentangles the impacts of third-person perspectives (offered by traditional simulations) and first-person perspectives (offered by participatory simulations) on children’s development of such systems thinking in the context of the emergent complexity of honeybee nectar foraging. Specifically, we worked with three first-grade classrooms assigned to one of three conditions—instruction through use of a first-person perspective only, third-person perspective only, and integrated instruction—to engage ideas of complex systems thinking. In each condition, systems concepts were targeted through instruction and assessment. The integrated and third-person classrooms demonstrated significant gains while the first-person classroom showed gains that were not statistically significant, suggesting that third-person perspectives play a critical role in how children learn systems thinking. This work also puts forth a novel assessment design for young children using multiple-choice questions.

     

Primary school pupils' ability to see scientific problems in everyday phenomena

Conclusion Although the experiments reported here are only a beginning to the research needed, the results obtained so far suggest that some teachers and some curriculum planners have overlooked factors in their consideration of problem solving as a learning method in primary school science. There appear to be teachers who have rejected this approach prematurely because many of the problems children suggest when they are first introduced to this method of working are not sound starting points for investigation. Curriculum palnners, on the other hand, do not appear to have given serious consideration to the fact that some subject matter provides a better starting point for pupil problem solving than others. Further, there has been inadequate information available for teachers on the type of classroom situations and teacher behaviour which will maximize pupils' ability to see investigable science problems in everyday phenomena. The type of research reported here will be continued and expanded to provide a clearer picture of contexts in which the ability of pupils to see investigable scientific problems is maximized.