Summer science camp for middle school students: A Turkish

Some elementary students struggle to learn science and loss interest in science. Students feel that advanced science is not necessary for their future careers and that they will never use the science they learn in school later in life (Science and Engineering Indicators, 1998). According to the Indiana Department of Education (2009), 65 % of fifth grade students in Indiana passed the science portion of the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus exam. This is concern because many of ten jobs within the next several years will rely heavily on a strong background in science (Coveny, 2010). The reason cited for the loss of interest in science by students is that science texts and classroom activities do not appear relevant to the lives of students (Roth, et al., 2006).

A current science curriculum of Turkey is endorsed to engage students in biology/science to use hands-on activities related to daily life. This approach supports students' natural interest in science; students are engaged to connect between biology/science and their life. However, research pointed that there are some limitations to practice in biology/science classrooms (Çimer, 2004; Adali, 2005; Salman, 2006). First, the time limitation does not facilitate doing these activities (Çimer, 2012). Second, biology curricula, indirectly favour memorization facts (Anderson et al., 1990; Kaya and Gürbüz, 2002; Özcan, 2003; Çimer, 2004). Third, classrooms (for biology settings) do not provide instruction materials for doing these activities (Kaya and Gürbüz, 2002). Thus, students' logical understanding and curiosity cannot be supported and they cannot get opportunities to increase interest in and connect biology/science and their life (Prokop et al., 2007).

The alternative way to improve student' interest toward science is non-formal learning carried out through science centers (Eshach, 2007). The nature of non-formal learning is to provide students opportunities to explore, experience, and interact with others as they learn science in settings outside of the classroom (Dillon et al., 2006, Salmi, 2003, National Research Council, 2009). Non-formal learning occurs in a planned; however, highly adaptable manner in institutions, organizations, and situations beyond the spheres of formal or informal education. It shares the characteristic of being mediated with formal education, but the motivation for learning may be entirely intrinsic to the learner.

The impacts of non-formal science education programs can serve as a domino effect. Increased interest in science developed by students in these education programs can enable to the improvement of a more positive attitude to learn science, which in turn, can affect students' attitudes towards science in a formal context. Students that express a positive attitude toward learning science and science in general might be more likely to take learning outside of the classroom and learn on their own. Learning on their own, outside of the classroom, may lead to experiences that can shape individuals' career aspirations and personal actions and lead them down a pathway to science careers (Fenichel and Schweingruber, 2010).

Many non-formal science education programs such as summer science programme and camp provide students with opportunities to explore and build a foundation of knowledge and motivation. Several studies examined the effectiveness of non-formal science learning (Dillon et al., 2006; Rickinson et al., 2004). Gibson and Chase (2002) found that longitudinal, 2-year impact of an inquiry-based science summer programme positively influenced middle school-students' attitudes toward science. An increased interest for science was detected for students who were experienced the summer science programme than students that did not. Knox et al. (2003) examined effects of relative short lasting (2–4 weeks) science summer programme in high school students; post-test scores of participants revealed that their knowledge and skills in science were significantly increased. Subsequent study of Markowitz (2004) confirmed that effects of summer science programmes had a long-term impact on students' attitude and interest in career in science.

In the literature, researchers usually focus on children's interest and attitude changes towards science as a result of summer science programmes. Researchers are not interested adequately in questions such as what the child thinks he/she will gain from his/her experience in summer science programmes science. While some researchers found that learning in summer science programmes is ineffective (Kubota and Olstad, 1991), others have argued that students constituted extremely valuable learning outcomes (Ayres and Melear, 1998; Ramey-Gassert et al., 1994). Realizing that children gain knowledge as a result of experience of science programme is important. However, I feel that it is also important to seek out a theoretical explanation with regard to the potential for increased understanding of scientific concepts as a result of science programme. This might help educators to improve their designing of scientific fieldtrips to be more efficient.

Science programme which is occurring non-formal learning of science is new theme for many researchers specifically in Turkey while its importance of has been increased rapidly in modern societies (Prokop et al., 2007). Hence the results of this study can be incorporated in short and long-term summer science program development. In the short term, the results of the study can be incorporated into the effective planning, design and evaluation of new programs. On a broader level, the results from this study can aid in the improvement of program planning, design and evaluation, which will better serve the thousands of children nationally through non-formal science education programs.

This study describes a preliminary study discover impact of on the middle school students' knowledge and interest biology as well as effect on their career decision regarding biology and perceptions of biology. Within the context of a summer science program, held at the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University as a project, and supported by TUBITAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), this research was conducted and mainly research questions in below were investigated:

How did biology day activities effect on the middle students' knowledge at the end of the biology day?

How did biology day activities effect on the middle students' interest in biology at the end of the biology day?

How did biology day activities effect on the middle students' career decision regarding biology and perceptions of biology day activities?