 |
Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 12, Issue 1, Article 2
(Jun., 2011) |
|
Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 12, Issue 1, Article 2
(Jun., 2011) |
Previous studies were mainly concentrated on determining children’s conception of science and pointed out that children had a restricted view of science. Several interventions would be done to better introduce science and help children to extend their conception of science which was mostly related to school activities. Lederman (2007) pointed out that using context of scientific inquiry and activities which provide opportunity for students to replicate scientific inquiry in appropriate conditions is the best way to teach NOS. Science camps are such an intervention in which children could conduct their scientific research while they were reasoning about science and its epistemological aspects. Actually, science camps are common in especially the U. S. Simple search on WWW results in enormous number of science camps. A quick examination of the science camp programs indicated that their programs usually consisted of hands-on science activities, field trips, and technological inventions. Such programs provide learning opportunities outside of school, but they are not specifically designed for introducing several aspects of science.
In contrast to their common application, research on science camps is really scarce. We could locate only one research study in which a science camp was conducted with a group of Taiwanese gifted middle school students (Liu & Lederman, 2002). The aim was to introduce NOS. They applied explicit inquiry and some NOS activities were done at the science camp. VNOS D was applied and students were interviewed on their responses to determine the change in their NOS views. They did not find any change in students’ understanding of NOS from pre- to post-test, but the students were already well on the pre-test. Ceiling effect and short period of instruction were two possible reasons proposed by the authors for no change from pre- to post-test.
We believe that science camps deserve more research attention to clarify their effectiveness in introducing science. Thus, it was worthwhile to design and implement a science camp in order to introduce science to the children in a more holistic perspective. The present study aimed at searching the effectiveness of a science camp program which aimed at introducing science by using inquiry and explicit NOS activities on children’s understanding of science.
Copyright (C) 2011 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 12, Issue 1, Article 2 (Jun., 2011). All Rights Reserved.
