CarboOcean Bergen Carboschools+ What did students, teachers and scientists learn? Elma Dijkstra & Martin Goedhart Department of Education Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences University of Groningen

CarboOcean Bergen Aims of Carboschools+ Key objective: Establish partnerships between research institutes and schools in developing and conducting student projects on climate change Related objectives: ›Support scientists and teachers to establish collaboration (co- production and exchange of tools, know-how, materials, methodologies at a European level) ›Inform and stimulate secondary school students to choose science careers ›Involve local players (school authorities, teacher associations, parents associations, teacher training institutes, science museums etc.)

CarboOcean Bergen Partners Bergen (N) Kiel (D) Jena (D) Bordeaux (F) Paris (F) Barcelona (Cat) Firenze (I) Norwich (UK) Groningen (NL) Associated partners: Cluj (Rom) Uppsala (S) Heidelberg (D)

CarboOcean Bergen Some activities ›School CO 2 web (NL + others) ›Sustainable agriculture (I) ›Marine research (D,N)

CarboOcean Bergen Aims of WP4 (evaluation) ›Evaluation of regional projects ›Impact of projects on... - students’ attitudes towards science - students’ attitudes towards school science - students’ attitudes towards scientists - students’ attitudes towards climate change

CarboOcean Bergen Instruments of WP4 Three instruments ›Self Evaluation Tool ›Attitudes Questionnaires ›Interviews

CarboOcean Bergen Structure of Self Evaluation Tool (SET) SET consists of three parts: Part A (12 items) ›Background characteristics (gender, birthyear, science background etc.) Part B (14 items) ›Opinions on project (organization, enjoyment, difficulty, impact). ›Likert items: strongly disagree – disagree – agree – strongly agree Part C (4 essay questions) ›Additional information about the project (suggestions to improve etc.) SET is translated to native language students

CarboOcean Bergen Results SET Backgroundcharacteristics ›29 schools from 5 countries ›Total number of students who filled in SET = 585 (305 girls / 276 boys / 4 unknown) ›Age: 13 – 21 year (m = 16.5) ›Grades: 7 – 13 (m = 10.4) ›Time spent on the project: 1 – 100 hours per student (m = 25 hours) UiB-BCCR Bergen Norway MPI-BGC Jena Germany CNR- IBIMET Firenze Italy LSCE-IPSL Gif sur Yvette France IFM- GEOMAR Kiel Germany RuG Groningen The Netherlands Total N = 63N = 23N = 157N = 312N = 28N = 2N = 585

CarboOcean Bergen Results SET Science background characteristics Most (at least 70%) of the students: -are interested in science topics -found their grades for science subjects high -do a lot of science at school -like science lessons more than other lessons at school -don’t think that scientists are boring 39% of the students found it difficult to understand scientists in general Students are positive about science and scientists in general

CarboOcean Bergen Results SET Organization of CS projects -Projects were well organized (see table below) -Overall opinion on projects was good -Instructions for projects were clear for most (at least 70%) students -Supervisor’s explanations helped most students to understand projects Sample item: B1 (n = 581) Strongly disagree DisagreeAgreeStrongly agree “This project was well organized.”1.4%14.4%57.3%26.3%

CarboOcean Bergen Results SET Enjoyment of the CS projects -Students like learning science in this way (see table below) -Most students (at least 70%) would like to work on projects like these more often -Most students enjoyed the projects very much Sample item: B8 (n = 582) Strongly disagree DisagreeAgreeStrongly agree “I like learning science in this way.”3.1%14.2%53.5%28.7%

CarboOcean Bergen Results SET Difficulty of the CS projects -Projects were not too difficult -Most of the students (at least 70%) found their knowledge was sufficient to understand the projects (see table below) Sample item: B11 (n = 581) Strongly disagree DisagreeAgreeStrongly agree “My knowledge was sufficient to understand this project.” 3.8%24.4%57.6%13.5%

CarboOcean Bergen Results SET Impact on students -The students learned many new things from the projects and from the scientists -The projects made the students understand that climate change studies are very important for human future and that people can affect climate change (see table below) -The projects made 43% of the students more interested in choosing a scientific career Example: B13 (n = 583) Strongly disagree DisagreeAgreeStrongly agree “This project made me realize that people can affect climate change.” 3.1%16.1%53.2%27.4%

CarboOcean Bergen Effect of background characteristics on opinions Gender: -Girls are slightly more positive about projects’ organization than boys -Boys found the projects slightly less difficult than girls -Girls found they learned slightly more new things from the projects than boys Research institute & student age: - Many differences, but those characteristics depend on projects

CarboOcean Bergen Effect of science background characteristics on opinions Significant (p <.05) correlations: ›Interest in science topics correlates positive with scientific career interest ›Enjoyment of science lessons correlates positive with scientific career interest ›High grades for science subjects correlate negative with projects’ difficulty ›Difficulty to understand scientists correlates negative with almost all evaluated aspects ›Opinion that scientists are boring correlates negative with all evaluated aspects

CarboOcean Bergen Conclusion Evaluation CS Projects ›Students are positive about the organization of projects, enjoyment and difficulty of projects, and projects’ impact ›SET reports give useful feedback to all regional coordinators on the projects

CarboOcean Bergen Attitudes Questionnaires (AQ) Pretest (before project) & posttest (after project) to measure changing attitudes PartScaleNumber of items Cronbach’s Alpha A Background characteristics 12- B AttitudesSchool ScienceAttitude towards School Science7.90 ScienceAttitude towards the Social Implications of Science Attitude towards Scientists Attitude towards a Career in Science Climate Change Attitudes towards Climate Change Environmental Awareness C Climate Change Knowledge Test 12-

CarboOcean Bergen AQ sample items ScaleSample item B Attitude towards School Science“Science lessons are fun.” B Attitude towards the Social Implications of Science“Science helps to make life better.” B Attitude towards Scientists“Scientists are less friendly than other people.” B Attitude towards a Career in Science“A job as scientist would be interesting.” B Attitudes towards Climate Change“Climate change is a threat to the world.” B Environmental Awareness“I feel it’s important to take good care of the environment.” C Climate Change Knowledge Test“Because of climate change certain plants and animals may become extinct.” “If my city will have a heat wave this summer, it means climate is changing.” Scores part B: strongly disagree – disagree – neutral – agree – strongly agree Scores part C: true – false – don’t know

CarboOcean Bergen Interviews Aim: to give additional information on the implementation of the projects in the schools and the curricula ›constraints with realizing projects within the school programme ›relation between the projects and the curriculum ›the role scientists may play in cooperation with schools from the perspective of teachers and scientists Interviews with: ›Students ›School teachers ›Scientists ›Regional coordinators

CarboOcean Bergen Thank you for your attention

A7 My interest in science topics is low A8 My grades for science subjects are high A9 We do a lot of science at school A10 I like science lessons more than other lessons at school A11 It is difficult to understand scientists A12 Most scientists are boring B1 This project was well organized. -,23 B2 I enjoyed this project very much. -,19-,18-,34 B3 I learned many new things from this project. -,15,09,13-,15-,30 B4 This project was too difficult.,19-,14,26,24 B5 The instructions for the project were clear. -,16 B6 This project made me understand climate change studies are very important for human future. -,13-,19 B7 I would like to work on projects like this more often. -,17,08-,12,10-,24-,30 B8 I like learning science in this way. -,14,10,16-,17-,23 B9 The supervisor's explanations helped me to understand this project. -,10,15,13-,12-,15 B10 My overall opinion on this project is good. -,12,14-,11-,29 B11 My knowledge was sufficient to understand this project. -,19,18,11-,16-,11 B12 I learned very much from the scientist(s) in this project.,10-,10-,21 B13 This project made me realize that people can affect climate change. -,10-,18 B14 This project makes me more interested in choosing a scientific career. -,27,16,32-,19-,30