Ocean Explorers: Lessons Learned from a Week at Science Camp Modified from original presentation at: MAMEA 2009 Conference Lewes, DE October 3, 2009 Lauren Madden, John Bedward, & Eric Wiebe NC State University Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education Claudia Benitez-Nelson University of South Carolina Marine Science Program and Dept. of Geology

Research Questions 1.Can a week-long half day science camp improve elementary students’ knowledge of marine science content? 2.What are the learning trajectories of children participating in short- term science camps?

Ocean Explorers One week-long half day summer camp Advertised to rising 2nd-6th graders Held at a church in Durham, NC Implemented for the first time in July, 2009

Science Summer Camps Increase students’ interest in science –Middle school longitudinal studies (Gibson & Chase, 2002) –Especially when participating in more authentic type practices (Ramey-Gassert, 1997) Increase students’ confidence –Particularly that of females (St. Pierre and Christian, 2002) Improve students’ science process skills –Students use description, observation and argumentation to act as scientists in informal settings (Rath & Brown, 1996)

Informal science & content knowledge Few studies address changes in students’ content knowledge after informal science experiences –Prokop et al. (2007) coupled some science content knowledge assessment with student attitudes after a field trip experience Little is known about how these experiences improve students’ content knowledge

Ocean Explorers- treatment Modified lessons from the USC Island Explorers Curriculum (USC Seagrant, n.d.) –In line with the seven principals of Ocean Literacy Two activities were covered each day –Topics included marine geology, properties of water, ichthyology, food chains and food webs, and humans and the oceans Students kept science notebooks documenting their progress throughout the week

Participant Demographics 5 students registered for camp 4 male, 1 female 3 white children, 2 biracial children 2 students received half scholarships to the program 4 children were given permission to participate in the study –3 children chose to participate in all parts of the study

Methods & Data Collection Action research; first author was the camp director Qualitative mixed-methods study –Knowledge inventories at the beginning and end of camp “Take 10 minutes to list all the facts you can think of about the ocean. This is not a test, and there are no right or wrong answers.” –Photographs of student notebook entries Every notebook entry was photographed each day. –Face-to-face focus group interviews with students 2 interviewers and 3 students discussed each child’s best and hardest notebook entries on Day 4 after camp.

Results-case study overviews

David 7 year-old rising 2nd grader Began camp with some misconceptions about the oceans –“Seamonsters” was listed as an item on his knowledge inventory from Day 1 Had a tough time with modeling the features on the seafloor on Day 1

David’s best notebook entry

David’s hardest notebook entry

David’s learning trajectory On his Day 5 knowledge inventory, David reported no misconceptions David was accurately able to verbally describe some phenomena he had trouble drawing and writing He was most confident in his ability to represent the more concrete ideas covered at camp.

Jason 8 year-old rising third grader His first knowledge inventory contained facts about what sort of things can be found in the ocean (mammals, plants, fish, coral, and sand) He was extremely conscious of his notebook being “neat” or “right” –Did not want to include entries about activities that didn’t work out as planned

Jason’s best notebook entry

The entry Jason didn’t want to include

Jason’s learning trajectory On his Day 5 knowledge inventory, Jason articulated many new things about marine geology and biology Jason was able to use words and pictures to describe his content knowledge He noted instances in which he was surprised, and thus reached some sort of cognitive dissonance about science content –Jason was surprised that his model plankton didn’t float although it was light, indicating he might be ready to learn some more about density –Jason was also surprised to learn about seafloor features such as caves

Rose 7 year old rising 2nd grader Came in to camp knowing more about the oceans than the others (e.g. zones in ocean based on amount of light, & more advanced geography knowledge) The most skeptical camper in the bunch –Motivated the group to conduct further experiments regarding density

Rose’s best notebook entry

A difficult task for Rose [name]

Rose’s learning trajectory Rose’s Day 5 knowledge inventory contained more specific information than the Day 1 inventory –e.g. jellyfish are plankton, there are 400 varieties of sharks, there are layers of the seafloor Rose motivated some further explorations on density after our failed experiment She used her notebook to make comparisons, indicating a more sophisticated understanding of some of the content covered

Lessons learned-conclusions We have evidence that it is possible to increase science content knowledge through short-term informal science experiences. –Campers were able to confront prior misconceptions –Campers represented their knowledge through multiple media Each camper followed his/her own unique learning trajectory Each data source was incomplete on its own, but when triangulated, they provided rich, concrete evidence of student learning.

Thanks Many thanks to the students and parents involved with Ocean Explorers Thanks to the wonderful high school students who assisted throughout the summer camp. Thanks to Pastor Bob Kretzu for his enthusiastic support and collaboration!

References Dierking et al. (2003). Policy Statement of the “Informal Science Education” Ad Hoc Committee. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 40(2): Gibson & Chase. (2002). Longitudinal Impact of an Inquiry-based Science Program on Middle School Students’ Attitudes Toward Science. Science Education 86(5): Prokop et al. (2007). Short-term Effects of a Field Programme on Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Biology: a Slovak Experience. Journal of Science Education and Technology 16(3): / Rath & Brown. (1996). Modes of Engagement in Science Inquiry: A Microanalysis of Elementary Students’ Orientations toward Phenomena at a Summer Science Camp. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 33(10): St. Pierre & Christian (2002). K-12 Initiatives: Increasing the Pool Presented at the 32nd Annual ASEE/IEEE frontiers in Education Conference. Boston, MA. USC Seagrant. (n.d.) Island Explorers Marine Science Curriculum. Retrieved April, 2009 from: