The Impact of the NIHERST/NGC National Science Centre, Trinidad and Tobago on Visiting Student Groups

The aim of this study was to asses the impact of a visit to the NIHERST/NGC National Science Centre in Trinidad on four different school-age visitor groups. The research was conducted through the administering of a post-visit questionnaire immediately upon completion of each visit by each group, and via visitor feedback obtained in post-visit or pre-visit activities conducted within two weeks of the visit for three groups. Teachers/instructors who accompanied the groups on their visit also completed post-visit questionnaires and provided additional information on follow-up activities via an interview. The results of this investigation suggest that the visit to this science centre provided entertainment/enjoyment value and potential educational value to most individuals. The nature of this enjoyment was noted for various age groups and genders in this study. Quantification of the educational impact was not possible within the constraints of this study, which was unable to capture long-term effects of the supply of ‘new knowledge’ to visitors which the visit to the science centre had provided.

Examining Visitor Attitudes and Motivations at a Space Science Centre

The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre is a multi-faceted organization whose mission is to educate, inspire and evoke a sense of wonder about the universe, our planet and space exploration. As a popular, Vancouver science centre, it faces the same range of challenges and issues as other major attractions: how does the Space Centre maintain a healthy public attendance in an increasingly competitive market where visitors continue to be presented with an increasingly rich range of choices for their leisure spending and entertainment dollars?This front-end study investigated visitor attitudes, thoughts and preconceptions on the topic of space and astronomy. It also examined visitors’ motivations for coming to a space science centre. Useful insights were obtained which will be applied to improve future programme content and exhibit development.

NAVET's Boxes - an Evaluation of the Post-Visit Loan Service at a Science Centre in Borås

Many pedagogues believe science centres to be a good complement to the more formal school teaching. For a visit to a science centre to be as educational as possible, there is a need for pre-visit information of some sort, a guided visit, and post-visit work. Many science centres offer loan services of different kinds. At Navet, a science centre in Borås, teachers can borrow boxes with experiments connected to the different themes they provide. The experiments are supposed to be a continuation of the visit and help settle the knowledge gained during the visit. This thesis is an evaluation of how the boxes function in the schools, and what the teachers think of them. The study was conducted through questionnaires and interviews with both teachers and the staff at Navet. The results of the study are very positive. Many teachers have been involved with Navet from the very beginning and they see a visit to Navet as an integrated part of their teaching. Some boxes work better than others and some might need clearer information, but overall the teachers see the boxes as timesavers, as a way to vary their teaching more easily, and as a help for teachers not specialized in mathematics and science.

Pupils' interaction with a Science Centre: Communication perspective analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate pupils’ knowledge about science and what role science center is playing as a medium of communication to increase knowledge among students. This study also tried to find out pupils’ interaction: how they use science center as a source of scientific information, what they learn from their visit to a science center, their pattern of communication with it. This project also measured attraction, holding and learning power of exhibits of the science center at Dalarna University in Borlänge and learning power of planetarium program and slide show of Stella Nova Planetarium at Dalarna University.The subjects of this study consisted of students of class seven and eight and teachers of an urban school in Borlänge, Sweden. To find out students’ learning in a science center a pre and post visit test were conducted through questionnaires. Interview method by questionnaires was also used to explore pupils’ interaction with science center.The results of this study show that students learn by their visit to a science center but learning was not statistically significant (0.05).Girls learnt better than boys. School classes that have better pre-knowledge about science before a visit to a science center learnt worse than other classes having less pre-knowledge. Girls and boys interact with a science center in different ways. Science center is playing important role as a science communicator.

Citizens and Contemporary Science Ways to dialogue in science centre contexts.

The current paper presents a study conducted at At-Bristol Science Centre, UK. It is a front-end evaluation for the “Live Science Zone” at At-Bristol, which will be built during the autumn of 2004. It will provide a facility for programmed events and shows, non-programmed investigative activities and the choice of passive or active exploration of current scientific topics. The main aim of the study is to determine characteristics of what kind of techniques to use in the Live Science Zone. The objectives are to explore what has already been done at At-Bristol, and what has been done at other science centres, and to identify successful devices. The secondary aim is mapping what sorts of topics that visitors are actually interested in debating. The methods used in the study are deep qualitative interviews with professionals working within the field of science communication in Europe and North America, and questionnaires answered by visitors to At-Bristol. The results show that there are some gaps between the intentions of the professionals and the opinions of the visitors, in terms of opportunities and willingness for dialogue in science centre activities. The most popular issue was Future and the most popular device was Film.

Tapping into Floor Staff: Using the knowledge of floor staff to conduct formative evaluations of exhibits in a Canadian science centre

Most science centres in Canada employ science-educated floor staff to motivate visitorsto have fun while enhancing the educational reach of the exhibits. Although bright andsensitive to visitors’ needs, floor staff are rarely consulted in the planning,implementation, and modification phases of an exhibit. Instead, many developmentteams rely on costly third-party evaluations or skip the front-end and formativeevaluations all together, leading to costly errors that could have been avoided. This studywill seek to reveal a correlation between floor staff’s perception of visitors’ interactionswith an exhibit and visitors’ actual experiences. If a correlation exists, a recommendationcould be made to encourage planning teams to include floor staff in the formative andsummative evaluations of an exhibit. This is especially relevant to science centres withlimited budgets and for whom a divide exists between floor staff and management.In this study, a formative evaluation of one exhibit was conducted, measuring both floorstaff’s perceptions of the visitor experience and visitors’ own perceptions of the exhibit.Floor staff were then trained on visitor evaluation methods. A week later, floor staff andvisitors were surveyed a second time on a different exhibit to determine whether anincrease in accuracy existed.The training session increased the specificity of the motivation and comprehensionresponses and the enthusiasm of the staff, but not their ability to predict observedbehaviours with respect to ergonomics, learning indicators, holding power, and successrates. The results revealed that although floor staff underestimated visitors’ success ratesat the exhibits, staff accurately predicted visitors’ behaviours with respect to holdingpower, ergonomics, learning indicators, motivation and comprehension, both before andafter the staff training.

The development of science concepts emergent from science museum and post-visit activity experiences : students' construction of knowledge

This research investigated students' construction of knowledge about the topics of magnetism and electricity emergent from a visit to an interactive science centre and subsequent classroom-based activities linked to the science centre exhibits. The significance of this study is that it analyses critically an aspect of school visits to informal learning centres that has been neglected by researchers in the past, namely the influence of post-visit activities in the classroom on subsequent learning and knowledge construction. Employing an interpretive methodology, the study focused on three areas of endeavour. Firstly, the establishment of a set of principles for the development of post-visit activities, from a constructivist framework, to facilitate students' learning of science. Secondly, to describe and interpret students' scientific understandings : prior t o a visit t o a science museum; following a visit t o a science museum; and following post-visit activities that were related to their museum experiences. Finally, to describe and interpret the ways in which students constructed their understandings: prior to a visit to a science museum; following a visit to a science museum; and following post-visit activities directly related to their museum experiences. The study was designed and implemented in three stages: 1) identification and establishment of the principles for design and evaluation of post-visit activities; 2) a pilot study of specific post-visit activities and data gathering strategies related to student construction of knowledge; and 3) interpretation of students' construction of knowledge from a visit to a science museum and subsequent completion of post-visit activities, which constituted the main study. Twelve students were selected from a year 7 class to participate in the study. This study provides evidence that the series of post-visit activities, related to the museum experiences, resulted in students constructing and reconstructing their personal knowledge of science concepts and principles represented in the science museum exhibits, sometimes towards the accepted scientific understanding and sometimes in different and surprising ways. Findings demonstrate the interrelationships between learning that occurs at school, at home and in informal learning settings. The study also underscores for teachers and staff of science museums and similar centres the importance of planning pre- and post-visit activities, not only to support the development of scientific conceptions, but also to detect and respond to alternative conceptions that may be produced or strengthened during a visit to an informal learning centre. Consistent with contemporary views of constructivism, the study strongly supports the views that : 1) knowledge is uniquely structured by the individual; 2) the processes of knowledge construction are gradual, incremental, and assimilative in nature; 3) changes in conceptual understanding are can be interpreted in the light of prior knowledge and understanding; and 4) knowledge and understanding develop idiosyncratically, progressing and sometimes appearing to regress when compared with contemporary science. This study has implications for teachers, students, museum educators, and the science education community given the lack of research into the processes of knowledge construction in informal contexts and the roles that post-visit activities play in the overall process of learning.

La ciencia y tú : selección de los mejores experimentos del Ontario Science Center.

Se centra en el conocimiento del cuerpo humano y de la ciencia. Mediante la realización de sencillos experimentos, los alumnos comprenderán los contenidos que se explican en la introducción de los mismos.

Science is Primary - Children Thinking and Learning in theChemistry Laboratory

The goal of primary science education is to foster children’s interest, develop positive science attitudes and promote science process skills development. Learning by playing and discovering provides several opportunities for children to inquiry and understand science based on the first–hand experience. The current research was conducted in the children’s laboratory in Heureka, the Finnish science centre. Young children (aged 7 years) which came from 4 international schools did a set of chemistry experiments in the laboratory. From the results of the cognitive test, the pre-test, the post-test, supported by observation and interview, we could make the conclusion that children enjoyed studying in the laboratory. Chemistry science was interesting and fascinating for young children; no major gender differences were found between boys and girls learning in the science laboratory. Lab work not only encouraged children to explore and investigate science, but also stimulated children’s cognitive development.

Electronic medical record systems in Saudi Arabia: Knowledge and preferences of healthcare professionals

Background The use of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems is increasing internationally, though developing countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have tended to lag behind in the adoption and implementation of EMR systems due to several barriers. The literature shows that the main barriers to EMR in Saudi Arabia are lack of knowledge or experience using EMR systems and staff resistance to using the implemented EMR system. Methods A quantitative methodology was used to examine health personnel knowledge and acceptance of and preference for EMR systems in seven Saudi public hospitals in Jeddah, Makkah and Taif cities. Results Both English literacy and education levels were significantly correlated with computer literacy and EMR literacy. Participants whose first language was not Arabic were more likely to prefer using an EMR system compared to those whose first language was Arabic. Conclusion This study suggests that as computer literacy levels increase, so too do staff preferences for using EMR systems. Thus, it would be beneficial for hospitals to assess English language proficiency and computer literacy levels of staff prior to implementing an EMR system. It is recommended that hospitals need to offer training and targeted educational programs to the potential users of the EMR system. This would help to increase English language proficiency and computer literacy levels of staff as well as staff acceptance of the system.

EU Multi-level Governance in the Making - The Community Initiative LEADER+ in Finland and Germany

In order to fully understand the process of European integration it is of paramount importance to consider developments at the sub-national and local level. EU integration scholars shifted their attention to the local level only at the beginning of the 1990s with the concept of multi-level governance (MLG). While MLG is the first concept to scrutinise the position of local levels of public administration and other actors within the EU polity, I perceive it as too optimistic in the degree of influence it ascribes to local levels. Thus, learning from and combining MLG with other concepts, such as structural constructivism, helps to reveal some of the hidden aspects of EU integration and paint a more realistic picture of multi-level interaction. This thesis also answers the call for more case studies in order to conceptualise MLG further. After a critical study of theories and concepts of European integration, above all, MLG, I will analyse sub-national and local government in Finland and Germany. I show how the sub-national level and local governments are embedded in the EU s multi-level structure of governance and how, through EU integration, those levels have been empowered but also how their scope of action has partially decreased. After theoretical and institutional contextualisation, I present the results of my empirical study of the EU s Community Initiative LEADER+. LEADER stands for Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l'Économie Rurale , and aims at improving the economic conditions in Europe s rural areas. I was interested in how different actors construct and shape EU financed rural development, especially in how local actors organised in so-called local action groups (LAGs) cooperate with other administrative units within the LEADER+ administrative chain. I also examined intra-institutional relations within those groups, in order to find out who are the most influential and powerful actors within them. Empirical data on the Finnish and German LAGs was first gathered through a survey, which was then supplemented and completed by interviewing LAG members, LAG-managers, several civil servants from Finnish and German decision-making and managing authorities and a civil servant from the EU Commission. My main argument is that in both Germany and Finland, the Community Initiative LEADER+ offered a space for multi-level interaction and local-level involvement, a space that on the one hand consists of highly motivated people actively contributing to the improvement of the quality of life and economy in Europe s countryside but which is dependent and also restricted by national administrative practices, implementation approaches and cultures on the other. In Finland, the principle of tri-partition (kolmikantaperiaatte) in organising the executive committees of LAGs is very noticeable. In comparison to Germany, for instance, the representation of public administration in those committees is much more limited due to this principle. Furthermore, the mobilisation of local residents and the bringing together of actors from the local area with different social and institutional backgrounds to become an active part of LEADER+ was more successful in Finland than in Germany. Tri-partition as applied in Finland should serve as a model for similar policies in other EU member states. EU integration changed the formal and informal inter-institutional relations linking the different levels of government. The third sector including non-governmental institutions and interest groups gained access to policy-making processes and increasingly interact with government institutions at all levels of public administration. These developments do not necessarily result in the empowering of the local level.

A educação em ciências no ensino básico em ambientes integrados de formação

A educação integral ao longo da vida de todos os indivíduos, em contextos formais, não formais e informais, com vista ao desenvolvimento inteligente, sustentável e inclusivo das nações é, actualmente, uma recomendação unânime de entidades e organizações a nível internacional (ex. UNESCO, UNICEF, NU, OCDE, OEI, UE). Neste âmbito, destaca-se o papel fulcral da literacia científica dos indivíduos, como motor do crescimento, produtividade e competitividade dos países e como um dos pilares basilares para o exercício de uma cidadania consciente na vida política, social e cultural. Para alcançar tais propósitos é necessário uma forte aposta numa educação de qualidade desde os primeiros anos de vida dos indivíduos. Para tal, é fundamental: (re)pensar perspectivas de educação, de ensino e de aprendizagem; dar reposta às amplamente reconhecidas necessidades de formação inicial e continuada de professores; e assegurar a existência de infraestruturas e recursos de suporte à concretização de tais anseios. O presente estudo pretende ser um contributo para a operacionalização de tais intenções, no campo particular da educação em ciências ao nível do ensino básico, tendo subjacente uma perspectiva de abordagem integrada e integradora da educação em ciências. O percurso de investigação, de natureza qualitativa, foi desenvolvido incidindo em dois focos fundamentais: (i) o desenvolvimento de infra-estruturas e recursos de suporte à educação em ciências e (ii) o desenvolvimento de um programa de formação continuada para professores do 1º CEB de educação em ciências na perspectiva considerada. Assim uma das grandes finalidades do estudo foi desenvolver (conceber, planificar, implementar e validar) um Centro Integrado de Educação em Ciências (CIEC) como parte integrante de uma escola do 1ºCEB. Partindo de orientações da literatura, da proficiência da equipa multidisciplinar e dos contributos de avaliadores externos procedeu-se ao desenvolvimento do conceito CIEC e respectivo espaço físico de suporte: espaço de educação formal - laboratório de ciências para o 1ºCEB; espaço de educação não formal – Centro de Ciência do CIEC.A segunda grande finalidade do estudo, foi o desenvolvimento (concepção, planificação, implementação e avaliação) de um programa de formação continuada que habilitasse os professores do 1ºCEB a desenvolverem actividades integradas de educação em ciências (AIEC). Tendo por base as orientações da literatura, bem como a caracterização das práticas, necessidades e expectativas dos professores-formandos, concebeu-se, planificou-se e implementou-se o programa de formação. A avaliação do programa efectuou-se tendo por base a análise dos dados recolhidos através de fontes distintas, e o seu cruzamento com recurso a métodos, técnicas e instrumentos diversificados. Assumindo-se como um contributo para a melhoria da educação em ciências nos primeiros anos de escolaridade, o presente estudo apresenta como resultados orientações para: o desenvolvimento de laboratórios em escolas do 1ºCEB; o desenvolvimento de centros de ciência, e ou espaços de educação não formal similares, e respectivo funcionamento; a implementação de actividades integradas da educação em ciências; o desenvolvimento de programas de formação continuada de professores; o processo de auto e hetero avaliação de práticas de professores no que respeita ao ensino das ciências em contextos formal e não formal.