High-school students engaging with researchers within a pre-university programme: Motivations and experiences

Abstract

For students, the transition between secondary school and higher education can be problematic. Their prior knowledge may be insufficient, they may lack the right attitude or not have enough skills for university. Especially gifted students often lack challenges to remain motivated. Moreover, it is not easy for secondary school students to get a good picture of a variety of further studies. For their teachers, it is difficult to keep students informed about actual research in science and technology, as they are not in touch with this research on a regular basis. In this paper, we report about experiences of more than ten years at Utrecht University, offering pre-university students opportunities to be involved in lectures, workshops, laboratories and research at the university. We report on students' motivation to register for this programme, and their experiences afterwards. Important categories of motivation and experience are: raising interest in science; the choice of, and preparation for, further studies; working with a group of similar, motivated students; the wish to be challenged; and the experience of doing research at the university. University lecturers involved in the programme like to work with these students, and are motivated to share their research experiences.

Involving young people through co-production and widening participation approaches: Reflections from school-based engagement

“…RISE was found to have broader implications in terms of boosting confidence and empowering young people through participatory engagement. Such findings around student empowerment align well with co-production findings (Simmons et al, 2015) and widening-participation-related approaches (Michels and Eijkelhof, 2018), showing the potential of the course to encourage young people to continue with further education, and to some extent inspire their choice of degree course. Our reflections on the RISE pilot raised key learning points around the three main aims of the paper.…”

“…They also acted as intermediate communicators. The crucial role of teachers in the school-university collaboration is also recognized in Michels and Eijkelhof's (2018) study of the U-Talent programme.…”

“…However, bursaries as a policy tool may be insufficient to progress the widening participation agenda (Harrison and Hatt, 2012), and from a social justice perspective, widening participation activities ought to increase students' aspirations, awareness, and the perceived value of higher education (Vignoles and Murray, 2016). A study aiming to improve transition between secondary school and higher education in the Netherlands demonstrated how close cooperation between secondary schools and universities through a pre-university programme (U-Talent) successfully engaged and motivated students (Michels and Eijkelhof, 2018). The study involved interaction between secondary school students and university researchers to improve students' science education and academic success, as well as promoting the professional development of science teachers and public engagement with schools.…”

Improving the quantitative research skills of Welsh Baccalaureate teachers through university engagement

“…Much of the existing literature focusses on outreach and engagement with schools from the perspective of the pupil (e.g. Michels and Eijkelhof, 2018;Tansey and Gallo, 2018). Such studies therefore tend to focus on the benefits to pupils, in terms of knowledge and skills development resulting from university outreach, or to the universities themselves in terms of future student recruitment or good public relations.…”