The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory

Nicole Garner; Ingo Eilks

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

Full Text (PDF)

Nicole Garner ¹, Ingo Eilks ² ^*

More Detail

¹ Insititute for Science Education, University of Bremen, Germany
² Institute for Science Education, University of Bremen, Germany
^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background:
Non-formal student laboratory environments for primary and secondary school science education have become a major trend in the German educational arena in recent years. These non-formal student laboratory environments are thought to offer unique experimental learning experiences that often cannot be realized in daily school routines. The biggest challenge for successfully operating non-formal education is to carefully and firmly link outer- and inner-school learning.

Materials and methods:
To better facilitate this linkage this paper describes a study providing insight into students’ and teachers’ expectations of a non-formal student chemistry laboratory. Over a period of three years, 461 students and 37 teachers participated in a written survey.

Results:
The results clearly show that students and teachers have similar expectations when visiting non-formal laboratory learning environments.

Conclusions:
The main foci addressed here concern the improvement of personal attitudes and the intensification of practical learning experiences.

Keywords

attitudes
out-of-school learning
chemistry education
non-formal learning
practical work

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2015 - Volume 11 Issue 5, pp. 1197-1210

Publication date: 25 Aug 2015

Article Views: 1615

Article Downloads: 780

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Abrahams, I. (2011). Practical work in secondary science. London: Continuum. Anderson, D., Kisiel, J., & Storksdieck, M. (2006). Understanding teachers’ perspectives on field trips: discovering common ground in three countries. Curator the Museum Journal, 49(3), 365-386.
Appleton-Knapp, S. L. & Krentler, K. A. (2006). Measuring student expectation and their effects on satisfaction: the importance of managing student expectation. Journal of Marketing Education, 28(3), 254-264.
Bögeholz, S., Böhm, M., Eggert, S. & Barkmann, J. (2014). Education for sustainable development in German science education: Past – present – future. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10(4), 231-248.
Burmeister, M., Rauch, F., & Eilks, I. (2012). Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and secondary chemistry education. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13(2), 59-68.
Bybee, R. W. (2001). Achieving scientific literacy: Strategies for insuring that free-choice science education complements national formal science education efforts. In H. J. Falk (Ed.), Free-choice science education: How we learn science outside of school (pp. 44–63). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Coll, R. K., Gilbert, J. K., Pilot, A., & Streller, S. (2013). How to benefit from the informal and interdisciplinary Dimension of Chemistry in Teaching? In I. Eilks, A. Hofstein (Eds.), Teaching Chemistry – A Studybook (pp. 241–268). Rotterdam: Sense.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Hermanson, K (1995). Intrinsic motivation in museums: Why does one want to learn? In J. H. Falk, L. D. Dierking (Eds.), Public institutions for personal learning (pp. 67–77). Washington, DC: American Association of Museums.
Davidson, S. K, Passmore, C., & Anderson, D. (2009). Learning on zoo field trips: The interaction of the agendas and practices of students, teachers and zoo educators. Science Education, 94(1), 122-141. doi: 10.1002/sce.20356
DeWitt, J. & Osborne, J. (2007). Supporting teachers on science-focused school trips: Towards an integrated framework of theory and practice. International Journal of Science Education, 29(6), 685-710.
Di Fuccia, D., Witteck, T., Markic, S., & Eilks, I. (2012). Current trends in practical work in German science education. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 8(1), 59-72.
Eilks, I. (2015). Science education and education for sustainable development – justifications, models, practices and perspectives. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10 (1), 149-148.
Eshach, H. (2007). Bridging in-school and out-of-school learning: formal, non-formal, and informal education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16, 171-190.
Falk, J. H. & Dierking, L. D. (1997). School field trips: Assessing their long-term impact. Curator the Museum Journal, 40(3), 211-218.
Falk, J. H. & Storksdieck, M. (2005). Using the contextual model of learning to understand visitor learning from a science center exhibition. Science Education, 89(5), 744–778.
Garner, N., Hayes, S. M., & Eilks, I. (2014). Linking formal and non-formal science education - A reflection from two cases in Ireland and Germany. Sisyphus Journal of Education, 2(2), 10-31.
Garner, N., Siol, A., & Eilks, I. (2015). The potential of non-formal laboratory environments for innovating the chemistry curriculum and promoting secondary school level students education for sustainability. Sustainability, 7(2), 1798-1818.
Garner, N., Siol, A., Huwer, J., Hempelmann, R., & Eilks, I. (2014). Sustainability and chemistry in non-formal student laboratories: A project to support learning about sustainability. In I. Eilks, S. Markic & B. Ralle (Eds), Science education research and education for sustainable development (pp. 199-208). Aachen, Germany: Shaker.
Guderian, P. & Priemer, B. (2008). Schülerlabore, was soll das alles? [Schülerlabors, what is all this?] In D. Höttecke (Ed.), Kompetenzen, Kompetenzmodelle, Kompetenzentwicklung (pp. 251-253). Berlin, Germany: Lit.
Greenfield, T. A. (1997). Gender- and grade-level differences in science interest and participation. Science Education, 81(3), 259-276.
Griffin, J. (1994). Learning to learn in informal science settings. Research in Science Education, 24, 121-128.
Griffin, J. (2004). Research on students and museums: Looking more closely at the students in school groups. Science Education, 88, 59-70.
Griffin, J. & Symington, D. (1997). Moving from task-oriented to learning-oriented strategies on school excursions to museums. Science Education, 81(6), 763-779.
Hatcher, L. & Stepanski, E. J. (1994). A step-by-step approach to using the SAS1 system for univariate and multivariate statistics. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.
Hempelmann, R. (2014). Schülerlabors and sustainability. In I. Eilks, S. Markic, & B. Ralle (Eds.) Science education research and education for sustainable development (pp. 189- 197). Aachen, Germany: Shaker.
Itzek-Greulich, H., Flunger, B., Vollmer, C., Nagengast, B., Rehm, M., & Trautwein, U. (2014). The impact of a science center outreach lab workshop on German 9th graders’ achievement in science. In C. P. Constantinou, A. Papadouris, A. Hadjegeorgiou (Eds.), Science education research for evidence-based teaching and Coherence in Learning, Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 conference, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2nd – 7th
Jarvis, T. & Pell, A. (2005). Factors influencing elementary school children’s attitudes toward science before, during and after a visit of the UK National Space Center. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42, 53-83. September 2013 (pp. 345-354). Retrieved from http://www.esera.org/
Kisiel, J. (2005). Understanding elementary teacher motivations for science fieldtrips. Science Education, 89(6), 936–955.
Koballa, T. R. & Glynn, S. M. (2007). Attitudinal and motivational constructs in science learning. In: S. Abell & N. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Science Education (pp. 75-102), Mahwah, NJ: LEA Publishers.
Linn, M. (1983). Evaluation in the museum setting: focus on expectation. Educational Evaluation and policy Analysis, 5(1), 119-127.
Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative content analysis. Retrieved from http://217.160.35.246/fqs-texte/2-00/2-00mayring-e.pdf.
Michie, M. (1998). Factors influencing secondary science teachers to organize and conduct field trips. Australian Science Teacher’s Journal, 44, 43–50. Retrieved from http://www.members.ozemail.com.au/~mmichie/fieldtrip.html
Muscat, M. & Pace, P. (2013). The impact of site-visits on the development of biological cognitive knowledge. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 12(3), 337-351.
Nadelson, L. S. & Jordan, J. R. (2012). Student attitudes toward a recall of outside day: an environmental science field trip. Journal of Educational Research, 105(3), 220-231.
OECD (2012). Higher education and adult learning - Recognition of non-formal and informal learning. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/edu/skills-beyond-school/recognitionofnonformalandinformallearning-home.htm
Orion, N. & Hofstein, A. (1991). The measurement of students' attitudes towards scientific field trips. Science Education, 75(5), 513-523.
Orion, N. & Hofstein, A. (1994). Factors that influence learning during a scientific field trip in a natural environment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31(10), 1097–1119.
Osborne, J., Simon, S., & Collins, S. (2003). Attitude towards science: a review of the literature and its implications. International Journal of Science Education, 25(9), 1049-1079.
Ramey-Gassert, L. (1997). Learning science beyond the classroom. The Elementary School Journal, 97(4), 433–450. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1002356
Rennie, L. J. (2007). Learning science outside of school. In: S. Abell & N. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Science Education (pp. 125-170), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.
Rix, C. & McSorley, J. (1999). An investigation into the role that school-based interactive science centres may play in the education of primary-aged children. International Journal of Science Education, 21(6), 577–593
Scharfenberg, F.-J. & Bogner, F. X. (2014). Outreach science education: Evidence-based studies in a gene technology lab. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10(4), 329-341.
Schmidt, I., Di Fuccia, D., & Ralle, B. (2014). Science education in out-of-school contexts. In C. P. Constantinou, A. Papadouris, A. Hadjegeorgiou (Eds.), Science education research for evidence-based teaching and Coherence in Learning, Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 conference, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2nd – 7th
Stockelmayer, S, Rennie, L., & Gilbert, J (2010). The roles of the formal and informal sectors in the provision of effective science education. Studies in Science Education, 46, 1-44. September 2013 (pp. 12-20). Retrieved from http://www.esera.org/
Storksdieck, M. (2001). Differences in teachers’ and students’ museum field-trip experiences. Visitor Studies Today, 4(1), 8–12. Retrieved from http://www.archive.informalscience.org
Stronck, D. R. (1983). The comparative effects of different museum tours on children’s attitudes and learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 20(4), 283-290.
Tal, T., & Steiner, L. (2006). Patterns of teacher–museum staff relationships: School visits to the educational centre of a science museum. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education 6(1), 25–46.
Tobin, K. G. (1990). Research on science laboratory activities; in pursuit of better questions and answers to improve learning. School Science and Mathematics, 90(5), 403-418.
Urbancic, M. & Glazar, S. A. (2012). Impact of experiments on 13-year-old pupils’ understanding of Selected science concepts. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 8(3), 207-218.
Wellington, J. (1990). Formal and informal learning in science: The role of the interactive science centres. Physics Education, 25(5), 247-252.
Weßnigk, S. & Euler, M. (2012). The potential of an out-of-school laboratory to improve the image of physics and chemistry. In C. Bruguière, A. Tiberghien, A. Clément (Eds.), Science education research for evidence-based teaching and Coherence in Learning, Proceedings of the ESERA 2011 conference, Lyon, France, 5th – 9th
Wolins, I. S., Jensen, N., & Ulzheimer, R. (1992). Children’s memories of museum field trips: A qualitative study. Journal of Museum Education, 17(2), 17-27. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/ 40478925 September 2011 (pp. 147-151). Retrieved from http://www.esera.org/
Zehren, W., Neber, H., & Hempelmann, R. (2013). Kognitive und motivationale Effekte durch regelmäßiges Forschendes Experimentieren im Schülerlabor [Cognitive and motivational effects through repeated inquiry-experimentation in the Schülerlabor]. Der Mathematische und Naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht, 66(6), 416-423.

How to cite this article

APA

Garner, N., & Eilks, I. (2015). The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(5), 1197-1210. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

Vancouver

Garner N, Eilks I. The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(5):1197-210. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

AMA

Garner N, Eilks I. The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(5), 1197-1210. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

Chicago

Garner, Nicole, and Ingo Eilks. "The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2015 11 no. 5 (2015): 1197-1210. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

Harvard

Garner, N., and Eilks, I. (2015). The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(5), pp. 1197-1210. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a

MLA

Garner, Nicole et al. "The Expectations of Teachers and Students Who Visit a Non-Formal Student Chemistry Laboratory". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 11, no. 5, 2015, pp. 1197-1210. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1415a