Primary pupils, science and a model bird species: Evidence for the efficacy of extracurricular science education

Abstract

Beyond subject matter learning, primary science teaching aims at encouraging positive attitudes toward, and lasting interest in, science. This study tested whether the learning and science commitment of 8- to 10-year old pupils was affected by extracurricular learning opportunities involving repeated interactions with free-living northern bald ibis ( Geronticus eremita ; an endangered bird species) and professional researchers. To examine the project’s efficacy, pupils’ learning progress was monitored by repeated measures of knowledge (i) about northern bald ibises in specific, and (ii) of bird diversity in general. In addition, the children’s attitudes toward science were monitored and their dynamic mental models of northern bald ibis’ morphology and size were assessed from drawings. A total of 55 pupils from two schools were tested for eight months (before, during and after the experience). Control groups went through regular (curricular) science lessons with similar content and time investment. The extracurricular experience produced a clear learning progress with large effect sizes, which was particularly evident on a long timescale. In addition to subject matter knowledge, the project group pupils could name more bird species and expressed their views about the importance of scientific research for society in a higher proportion than control groups. Differences between schools suggest that project participation also changed the teacher’s own interest in northern bald ibises, which affected learning in the control group taught by the same teacher. Beyond the pupils’ language and reading skills, learning progress was also visible by scoring ibis-typical features in drawings; their mental models of relative size were not changed due to project participation, however. The results are discussed in reference to inducing and maintaining pupils’ attitude and interest in a topic. The study adds empirical evidence for the potentials of advancing primary science education e. g. by fostering the collaboration of schools with scientists.

Science Education and Beyond: Citizen Science in Primary School Potentially Affects Conceptual Learning and Socio-Emotional Development

“…The potential benefits of extracurricular contents for science education have been shown before with regard to factual learning and personal interest [11]. The results presented here suggest that learning at the level of conceptual insights is potentially possible, and future focus should be on further understanding the additional factors needed to reinforce the efficacy of CS for conceptual skills in science education [27].…”

“…This dimension of learning is considered connectable (e.g., see [27]) and useful for further science education (i. e. in secondary school), and it corresponds to the demands of the Austrian curricula [28] for the learning outcomes of science education at the primary level I and II. In a previous study, we observed an additional effect of CS activities on the children's knowledge of bird diversity [11], which indicated that personal interest in the subject was triggered by the CS experiences. The results of the current study add that, potentially, CS activities stimulated the children's skills for applying factual knowledge in a new context and beyond the model bird species.…”

“…Typically, some children benefit enormously from participation in a CS project [2,10,11], while others don't. This may be viewed as the given individual variance in the data observed from a sample and considered acceptable when the results are within satisfying effect size range.…”

“…However, from an educational perspective, every child in the class must be included in the teaching activities [3] and thus, educational research has a particular focus on those individuals, who were lacking effects of CS participation [12]. The identification of factors that contribute to the efficacy of CS projects in the school context in terms of successful learning is indeed challenging [11]. Even though this was not the focus of the studies presented here, a better understanding of such factors is desirable, and unraveling individual learning outcomes on top of science education [10] might add pieces to the puzzle.…”

Citizen Science in the Natural Sciences

“…As participation is often not dependent on the competence or experience levels of volunteers, the research questions addressed do not usually include investigation of the short-term added value for participants (Kasperowski et al 2017 ). There is empirical evidence that collaboration between education and natural science research increases motivation for out-of-school learning (Scheuch et al 2018 ) and fosters the acquisition and retention of non-traditional knowledge compared to classroom-based curriculum learning (Hirschenhauser et al 2019 ). Nevertheless, citizen science projects need adequate financial and temporal resources for recruiting (and often training) participants and communicating with them.…”