High-school students in university research labs? Implementing an outreach model based on the ‘science as inquiry’ approach

Dina Tsybulsky*, Jeff Dodick, Jeff Camhi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study we designed, implemented, and evaluated an outreach programme for high-school biology students rooted in the ‘science as inquiry’ approach. Accordingly, students learn about science from experts in the field, as well as through in-class exposure to the history and philosophy of science. Our sample consisted of 11th graders (n = 497), ages 16–17, attending advanced biology classes. Our goal was to determine whether this programme had a significant effect on students’ understanding of the ‘nature of science’ (NOS) and on their attitudes towards science. Using a controlled pre-post research design, we asked participants to complete a Likert-like questionnaire. Also, we conducted post-programme semi-structured interviews with 35 of the participants. Results show that completion of the programme significantly enhanced participants’ NOS understanding and improved their attitudes towards science. Participants expressed a deep level of NOS understanding and explicitly stated that the field visits to experts’ labs had changed their attitude towards science. We believe that our outreach programme can be adapted for teaching other sciences and for societies worldwide, as long as there is access to university laboratories and researchers willing to interact with young citizens and potential future scientists.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)415-428
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Biological Education
Volume52
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Royal Society of Biology.

Keywords

  • attitudes towards science
  • nature of science
  • science as inquiry
  • Science outreach
  • visits to university labs

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