Exploring the Sky: An Exploratory Study on the Effectiveness of Discourse in an Atmospheric Science Outreach Program

Abstract:

Educational outreach programs led by scientists or scientific organizations can introduce participants to science content, increase their interest in science, and help them understand the nature of science (NOS). Much of atmospheric science (AS) educational outreach to date has concentrated on teacher professional development programs, but there is still a need to study how students react to classroom programs led by scientists. The purpose of this research project is to examine student engagement with AS and NOS content when presented by a university atmospheric scientist or an Earth system science teacher. The guiding research question was: how do students interact with science experts in their classrooms compared to their teachers when learning about Earth science and NOS? The outreach program was developed by an AS faculty member and was implemented in a local 10^th grade Earth Science class. The presenter used historical stories of discoveries to introduce concepts about the middle atmosphere and climate circulations, reinforcing the NOS in his interactive presentations. On a separate day the teacher implemented a lesson on plate tectonics grounded in NOS. A case study analysis is being conducted using videotaped presentations on Earth science and NOS by the teacher and the scientist, pre- and post- questionnaires, and teacher and scientist interviews in order to determine patterns in student-presenter discourse, the levels of presenters’ inquiry-based questioning, and the depth of student responses around Earth science content and NOS. Preliminary results from video analysis indicate that the scientist used higher inquiry-based questioning strategies compared to the teacher; however the teacher was able to go into more depth on a topic with the lesson. Scientists must consider whether the trade-offs warrant focusing their outreach efforts on content professional development for teachers or content outreach for K-12 students.