Today's post comes from Alex Brown at the The University of York Centre for Lifelong Learning and uses examples from all three Charter principles.
Universities and science learning centres have a complementary set of skills in science education and research. By collaborating together it is possible to deliver programmes of education for audiences that would otherwise not engage with science; one of such audience is parents. A recent study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that ‘evidence supports the use of interventions focused on parental involvement in children’s education to improve outcomes’. In addition, research from the International Centre for Guidance Studies suggests that the main guide used by younger people when planning their future is from within the family unit. A recent report from Kings College ASPIRES Research Team agreed with this finding, highlighting that organisations must reach out to families, not just their children, as they play a key role in how young people access information about science careers.
The University of York Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL) and Myscience, have collaborated on two projects aimed at engaging parents and children in science. The first project is Science is for Parents Too, this comprises a twenty session course designed for parents of primary age children and is run by the Centre for Lifelong Learning with support from Myscience.
Taught at the National Science Learning Centre (Myscience) and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the aim of the course is to support the teaching of science in primary schools by re-engaging parents with a subject that may have been hard to understand or engage with when they were at school. For many adults, the thought of science classes brings about memories of unfathomable theories, Bunsen burners and complicated equations. This project aims to change all of that, and make science something for everyone, though a series of free hands on sessions.
The course content is based around the same topics covered in Key Stage 1 and 2 of the science national curriculum in primary schools. The twist however is that these same topics are explained in an adult fashion, so that parents can quickly become homework gurus and better support their children. Whilst important facts and theories are taught in class, the learning is supported by practical hand-on demonstrations in a laboratory. We believe that seeing science come alive is the best way to explain how the world works, so the class activities are complemented by simple experiments which can be carried out at home. In this way, parents are encouraged to engage in learning with their children outside of the classroom and make science a dinnertime conversation topic. Real-world science is also important, so in addition to key learning concepts, we also make sure parents see science in action through trips to the Yorkshire Museum (to handle fossils) and a visit to Drax Power Station to see the reality of how electricity is created.
Measuring the impact of the course and its evaluation are extremly important. Rather than trying to measure the success of the project through what the parents have learned, we have focused on the trickle-down effect that has seen knowledge pass from adults to children. From a set of simple questions asked of children before and after the project last year, pupils with parents engaged on the project had a greater knowledge of science as a result, and showed an increased scientific understanding compared to schools where the project wasn’t available. An independant evaluation of the course found the following key findings.
- All parents said they had spoken about what they had learnt on the course with their children.
- Children whose parents attended the course showed an increase in scientific knowledge throughout the course, with a control group showing no increase in knowledge over the same period.
- Children whose parents attended the course tended to have more positive attitudes towards science after the course than a control group.
- All parents said they would recommend the course to a friend.
- The majority of parents (88%) said they felt more confident talking about science with others.
- 80% of parents said they wanted to attend further science courses after the course.
The second project has been a series of one day events, called family science days, which have taken place in half term. The days are jointly funded and designed and delivered by CLL and Myscience.
These events have a mixed audience of KS1/KS2 and KS3 aged children and their accompanying parents or guardians. The aim of the family science days is to use hands on science and demonstration lectures to get children and adults from the local community to engage more fully with science. It is hoped that this will help children with their science studies but may also get them to consider science as a career. We have run two days so far with a third planned and have had a total audience of around 160 participants. The first day in June 2013 consisted of a physics lecture, cosmodome (inflatable observatory) followed by hands on science activities in the laboratories (which could be used in the home). The second day followed a similar pattern but also included a chance to talk to scientists from the University of York’s science departments and gave them an opportunity to show what they do. At the end of the each family science day we get participants to write comments on a board as they leave, these are comments from both children and adults which give a feel for how the day has been received.
Comments included:
“A great way of making science fun, relevant & interesting. Thank you!”
“We learnt a lot great fun”
“My children now think science is cool”
“Brilliant the talk on material science was fascinating”
“It was epic”
“had a great time, really enjoyed the science show and taking part in experiments”
“making science fun for future generations”
Refrences:
Evaluation of Science is for Parents Too: http://tinyurl.com/nn8pf2k
Science is for Parents Too course information: http://www.york.ac.uk/lifelonglearning/wellcome/
Archer, L., Osborne, J. & DeWitt, J., Ten Science Facts & Fictions: The Case for Early Education about STEM Careers. London: The Science Council. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/aspires/Ten-Science-Facts--Fictions.aspx
Carter-Wall, C. and Whitfield, G., The role of aspirations, attitudes and behaviour in closing the educational attainment gap. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2012. Available at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/education-achievement-poverty-summary.pdf
Hutchinson, J., Stagg, P. & Bentley, K. (2009) STEM Careers Awareness Timelines. Derby: iCeGS. http://www.derby.ac.uk/files/icegs_stem_careers_awareness_timelines.pdf
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