NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1099705
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0693
EISSN: N/A
Young Science Journalism: Writing Popular Scientific Articles May Contribute to an Increase of High-School Students' Interest in the Natural Sciences
Simon, Uwe K.; Steindl, Hanna; Larcher, Nicole; Kulac, Helga; Hotter, Annelies
International Journal of Science Education, v38 n5 p814-841 2016
Far too few high-school students choose subjects from the natural sciences (NaSc) for their majors in many countries. Even fewer study biology, chemistry or physics at university. Those, that do, often lack training to present and discuss scientific results and ideas in texts. To meet these challenges the center for didactics of biology of Graz University has set up the program "Young Science Journalism." This new workshop-based interdisciplinary concept was tested in an exploratory study with grade 10 students of one Austrian high school, engaging both the biology and the German teacher of the class. It was our aim to raise students' interest in the NaSc by encouraging them to write popular scientific articles about self-chosen topics, and to help them improve their writing competence. In this paper we focus on interest development through writing. Results from this pilot study were promising. Using a mixed-method approach (comparing pre- and post-test questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from different time points analyzed qualitatively), we found that almost all students valued the project-related work highly. Most of them showed higher interest in the NaSc at project end with girls, in average, seeming to profit more from project participation. We thus recommend integrating such writing tasks into school curricula to increase students' interest in NaSc or to even create new interest. Additionally, we introduce a network presentation of questionnaire data as a powerful tool to visualize the effect of an intervention on individual students and student profile groups.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education; Grade 10
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Austria
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A