Researcher children: An educational social practice

2014

This project analyses the prevalence and social construction of science in the everyday activities of multicultural, multilingual children in one urban community. Using cross-setting ethnographic fieldwork (i.e. home, museum, school, community), we developed an ecologically grounded interview protocol and analytical scheme for gauging students’ understandings of and identification with science. Focal participants in an ethnographic study rated the frequency of the activities in which they participated, and then they reflected on how these activities connected to scientific knowledge, practices, and tools through an interview task protocol called the Science Activity Task (SAT). The SAT analysis found that children participated in scientific practices and saw science in their home, media, and community activities as well as in school activities. Children participated in scientific practices in their everyday school activities, such as measuring, building and designing, experimenting, and observing. The analysis also identified design principles such as building science activities from the children’s pre-existing connections to science (i.e. mixing things together, conducting informal experiments, and understanding electrical devices) rather than traditional home to school connections (i.e., the children did not see science in building with Legosw or in the physics behind sports). The study’s primary implication is that researchers and educators should seek to understand the specific connection that the young people they are working with have with science, using tools such as SAT, so that informal and formal science curricula are made relevant and meaningful to the youth participants.

2009

In recent years there have been significant changes in conceptual and theoretical views of children and childhood and the expectations adults have of children (Christensen and James 2000). Current perspectives view children as competent experts on their own experiences (James and Prout 1997) who actively shape their own lives, cultures and spaces, and have a right to have a say in situations that impact on them (Lansdown 2005; United Nations 1989). This paper reflects these perspectives in reporting a range of strategies used to engage with young children in research and in reflecting on some of the methodological and ethical tensions inherent in such engagement. Author Address: [email protected]

2019

This is an account of a collaborative project between the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, funded by a Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Catalyst Grant (CGA/17/46).

The study provides evidence concerning elementary school children's ability to conduct a scientific investigation. Two hundred and fifty sixth-grade students and 248 fourth-grade students were administered a test, and based on their performance, they were classified into highability and low-ability students. The sample of this study was randomly selected and included 80 students, 40 fourthgrade and 40 sixth-grade students of low and high abilities. Students were specifically instructed to investigate the functioning of a device, to think aloud prior and after any experiment with the device, and to keep a record of their experimental results. The results showed that students were inclined to mainly collect evidence from the experimental space and failed to control variables during their investigation. The majority of the students had difficulties with effectively organizing collected data and failed to coordinate hypotheses with evidence. The significant interaction effect that was found between grade level and ability in terms of students' investigation ability indicates that the existing gap between high-and low-ability students becomes bigger as students become older. Undoubtedly, ongoing research efforts for identifying patterns of children's cognitive development will be most valuable as they can have important implications for the design of teaching scenarios and inquiry-based science activities conducive to accelerating students' cognitive growth and scientific investigation abilities.

2000 Annual Conference Proceedings

Children have a natural tendency to investigate and explore the world around them. They do not usually interpret this as being scientifically aware. Through a series of classes that illuminate the science in the kinds of activities and play they engage in regularly, we help children to see that science is a part of their daily life. Placing science firmly in this context enables them to explore and learn without fear. This paper describes a series of hands-on classes designed to accomplish this objective with children ages four to twelve.

Research in Science Education , 2013

Beginning with the assumption that young children are capable of producing unprecedented knowledges about science phenomena, this paper explores the complexities of children’s inquiries within open-ended investigations. I ask two central questions: (1) how can we (teachers, researchers, and children themselves) use and build upon children’s explorations in science in practice? and (2) what pedagogical approaches can position children as experts on their experiences to facilitate children’s sense of ownership in the process of learning science? Six vignettes from a Kindergarten classroom are analyzed to elaborate the central claim of this work, which is that when children are engaged in collaborative open-ended activities, science emerges from their interactions. Open-ended structures allowed for teachers and children to facilitate further investigations collaboratively, and participatory structures mediated children’s representations and explanations of their investigations. Evidence of children’s interactions is used to illustrate the complexities of children’s explorations, and pedagogical approaches that create the spaces for children to create knowledge are highlighted.

Background: The Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT), located in Central Portugal, created the Academy of Science, Art and Heritage (ACAP) in 2013 for children aged eight to fourteen. Running during holiday periods, the ACAP was created with the purpose of educating by stimulating creativity and learning through observation, experimentation and construction in a scientific, diversified and happy learning environment. Purpose: This paper describes the work and challenges faced by IPT Laboratories of Archaeology, Conservation and Restoration, Chemistry, Engineering, Graphic Arts, Physics, Photography and Tourism in the organisation and conduction of mini practical workshops for groups of up to twelve children. Methods: With the maximum duration of one and a half hours, the workshops are conducted by a teacher or lab technician with the assistance of IPT student monitors and are organized so as to provide a learning space to perform, test and creatively apply recently acquired knowledge. For a symbolic enrolment tuition, the children stay within IPT premises for a full day and are offered lunch and two snacks. Results: Children's increasing interest in work in a laboratory environment, gradual development of their skills, reasoning and motor dexterity capabilities, the learning experience as part of a team, the increasing interest and happiness of parents, and the positive contribution of IPT in helping student monitors financially, as well as the dissemination of IPT work and expertise among the local population. Conclusions: The positive and increasingly high development of the children and the beneficial interaction between the university environment and its local population.

Education 3-13, 2017