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Asia-Pacific
Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 6, Issue 2, Foreword
(Dec.,
2005) Svein SJØBERG & Camilla SCHREINER How do learners in different cultures relate to science and technology?
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Asia-Pacific
Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 6, Issue 2, Foreword
(Dec.,
2005) Svein SJØBERG & Camilla SCHREINER How do learners in different cultures relate to science and technology?
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The key feature of ROSE is to gather and analyse information from the learners about several factors that have a bearing on their attitudes to S&T and their motivation to learn S&T. Examples are: A variety of S&T-related out-of-school experiences, their interests in learning different S&T topics in different contexts, their prior experiences with and views on school science, their views and attitudes to science and scientists in society, their future hopes, priorities and aspirations, their feeling of empowerment with regards to environmental challenges, etc.
ROSE has, through international deliberations, workshops and piloting among many research partners, developed an instrument that aims to map out attitudinal or affective perspectives on S&T in education and in society as seen by 15 year old learners. The ROSE advisory group comprises key international science educators from all continents, among them several from Asia3 . We have tried to make an instrument that can be used in widely different cultures. The aim is to stimulate research cooperation and networking across cultural barriers and to promote an informed discussion on how to make science education more relevant and meaningful for learners in ways that respect gender differences and cultural diversity. We also hope to shed light on how we can stimulate the students' interest in choosing S&T-related studies and careers – and to stimulate their life-long interest in and respect for S&T as part of our common culture.
About 40 countries are taking part in ROSE. Although most countries have finished the data collection, some countries have still not completed the survey, and others are in an initial stage of organising it. ROSE partners have met at conferences like ESERA and IOSTE, and special ROSE workshops have been hosted in Europe. From the Asian continent, the following countries have finalised their data collection:
Bangladesh, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Turkey. From other continents, the survey has been carried out in Botswana, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Norway, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zimbabwe4. In some countries the ROSE target population is defined as the students in one region of the country (e.g. Karelia in Russia, Gujarat in India and the Central region in Ghana).
Although the data collection for the initial reporting is finalised, new research partners may still use the ROSE instrument for their own research purposes after agreeing with the project organisers. The ROSE instrument is translated into many different languages. The questionnaire is copyrighted, but the project organisers may make them available for other partners.
ROSE is supported by The Research Council of Norway, The Ministry of Education in Norway, The University of Oslo and the newly established National Centre for Science Education. Industrialised countries cover their own expenses, while some funding for data collection has been provided for developing countries and countries with less available resources. Participation in the project has in many countries, led to the release of local funding for the participants.
The ROSE material may illuminate a range of important and topical discussions in the science education community, for example issues such as curricular content vs. students' interests, cultural diversity, students' disenchantment with their science classes and students' perceptions of science in society, gender differences. Discussions on such issues have been taking place in many papers and conference presentations based on the ROSE material (see e.g. Anderson, Sjøberg & Mikalsen, 2006; Jenkins, 2005; Jidesjö & Oscarsson, 2004; Lavonen, Juuti, Uitto, Meisalo & Byman, 2005; Ogawa & Shimode, 2004; Trumper, 2004). About 10 PhD students are basing their thesis on ROSE data, and the first PhD-thesis was submitted in Norway in November 2005 (Schreiner, 2006).
3The group had, in addition to the Norwegian team, the following members: Dir. Vivien M. Talisayon (The Philippines), Dr. Jane Mulemwa (Uganda), Dr. Debbie Corrigan (Australia), Dir. Jayshree Mehta (India), Professor Edgar Jenkins (England), Dir. Vasilis Koulaidis (Greece), Dr. Ved Goel (The Commonwealth, now India), professor Glen Aikenhead (Canada) and professor Masakata Ogawa (Japan).
4In order to not make the diagrams too extensive, data from only 25 countries are used in this article. The criteria for selecting some countries and excluding others are related to issues of sample and data quality.
Copyright (C) 2005 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 6, Issue 2, Foreword (Dec., 2005). All Rights Reserved.
