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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 14, Issue 2, Article 1 (Dec., 2013) |
This research has its roots in the interpretive paradigm. The researcher attempted to understand and explain the ways that the science communication course taken in the first semester of the 2012 academic year benefitted pre-service science teachers’ practice of science communication in communities during the second semester of the 2012 academic year. Using an interpretive lens, the researcher analyzed the qualitative data gathered from the interviews with and documents of three pre-service science teachers. The case study is concerned with the field of interpretive study as a research design. Its purpose is to provide an understanding of what happens in the natural phenomena under investigation. Multi-case studies provide deeper understanding and uncover meaning by investigating individual cases and examining other cases to produce commonalities and differences (Merriam, 1998).
The participants in this study were three third-year female pre-service science teachers from one teacher-education institution in Bangkok. They were 21 years old at the time of the study, and they were majoring in science teaching. They took the science communication course in the education program (Science Teaching) in the first semester of the 2012 academic year. In the second semester of that academic year, they had the opportunity to practice science communication in communities in several ways, such as conducting science communication activities, participating in a campaign, and having conversations with the people in the community. The pseudonyms Wandee, Juree, and Benjamas, which are used throughout this report, were assigned to each participant for ethical reasons and are used throughout this paper.
Wandee had a GPA of 3.21. She is a highly responsible person and has the characteristics of leadership and assertiveness. By being a Master of Ceremony (MC) regularly in many activities of her field, Wandee had prior experience in communication. She had good attitudes toward science communication and she recognized the benefits of communication. She stated “…practicing leadership, assertiveness, creativity, and responsibility. Personally, in the future, I will be a science teacher. So, taking this course is directly beneficial.” Benjamas had a GPA of 2.84. Her level of communication skills was average. She did well when she was in a group activity with other pre-service teachers. In her free time, she liked to do activities in science communication, such as by watching the documentary, “World Explorer,” which uses many scientific terms. This helped her learn techniques to develop knowledge and to distribute her knowledge to others. Benjamas would like to be a good example of a science communicator for the people. She stated that “If people listen to what I am advising…though I am not sure if they would apply things that I have advised. It takes time…and I have to do so as an example for them to follow. If people in the community see the benefits of doing so, this will help the society as a whole.” The third participant, Juree, had a GPA of 3.11. She was quiet. Juree often supported her classmates’ communication. Before taking the science communication course, Juree thought that science communication was complicated and involved only scientists. After completing the course, Juree had a better attitude toward science communication. When she was free, she practiced science communication regularly. Therefore, her attitude toward science had improved considerably. Juree was determined to correct the beliefs of the local people. She stated, “incorrect beliefs that could be found in the newspaper were results of the lack of knowledge of the people. We have to explain, demonstrate, and conduct experiments for them to see and correct their views.”
These three participants were studying at a teacher education institution, which has a commitment of generating and developing pre-service science teachers of high quality and standards sufficient for high vocations. The five-year program graduates teachers with the basic qualification of a bachelor’s degree. The purposes of the programs are as follows: 1) generating graduates of science teaching in physics, chemistry, biology and general science; 2) generating graduates who have the ability to think analytically in order to solve problems creatively in science; 3) developing science teaching to be consistent with socio-economic conditions, advanced technologies and future technologies; 4) generating graduates in order to relieve the problem of a diminishing workforce. In order to complete the requirements of the program, pre-service teachers must take the following courses: 1) a compulsory general course that includes a compulsory teaching course and a compulsory specialized disciplinary course; 2) elective specialized courses, which include a selective teaching course and an elective specialized disciplinary course; and 3) an elective course. In addition, students must participate in extra activities (e.g., the Science Education into Communities Project).
The Science Communication course is one of the elective specialized disciplinary courses in science teaching. The course has the value of 2 units. It was developed because most newly graduated pre-service science teachers should have views that are in line with the nature of science. However, they had some knowledge of scientist’s activities at the social level, as previously mentioned. The objectives of the course are to help students gain understanding and knowledge about principles and theories related to science communication, idiosyncrasies of scientific language, scientific and technological information sources, and guidelines for learning activities to support science communication. This includes the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in science. It also includes expressing opinions about scientific and social issues that emerge in daily life. In addition to recognizing the importance of science communication in daily life, pre-service teachers should develop science-learning activities, which are taught in the researcher’s science communication course. The researcher used constructivism and reflection as a framework to design learning activities. The three pre-service teachers attended this course in the first semester of the 2012 academic year. Through this course, they increased their understanding about science communication. Moreover, they also continually developed their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and gained a positive attitude towards science communication and learning by attending this course. It was essential that the researcher should follow up their practices of science communication in real contexts. Therefore, in this study, the researcher examines how they applied their knowledge and skills learned in the science communication course in the communities where they practiced in the second semester of the 2012 academic year.
The researcher was also an important instrument for data-gathering (Jackson, 1995). A strong relationship between the three cases and the researcher was needed in order to understand their practice of science communication in the communities. The researcher also used semi-structured interviews, which are useful for accessing in-depth data. The topics of the interview questions were drawn from the backgrounds of the participants, the topics that they communicated to the communities, how they practiced science communication in the communities, and factors that constrained or facilitated their practice of science communication in communities. Before starting the interviews with these three participants, the questions were sent to three science educators for their approval regarding format, content, and wording. The questions were also and answered by two pre-service science teachers whose backgrounds were similar to the three research participants. The feedback from these test interviews involved clarifying, jargon, and eliminating ambiguous items, which the researcher used to improve the questions. Moreover, the document review was also a way to reduce the subjectivity of the researcher’s interpretations. In this study, the researcher used the participants’ journal entries to examine their practice of science communication in communities. In their journal entries, they had to record their practice and their reflection on this practice. The researcher also used informal interviews for clarification and facilitating analysis, validity checks, and triangulation.
The researcher explained the research project in detail to the three pre-service science teachers who volunteered to participate. Their responses provided rich information to develop an in-depth understanding of how they practiced science communication in the communities after participating in the science communication course. With regard to ethical issues, the researcher treated the participants with great respect. If they felt uncomfortable about participating in this research, they could withdraw at any time. When they understood the commitment of this study, the researcher started collecting the data by interviewing them about their background in science communication. The researcher also asked them for their permission to tape record the interview. Each interview took approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
At that time of the data collection, Wandee and Benjamas had the chance to be volunteers in the Science Education into Community Project, which was an extra-curricular project in the science-teaching program, of which the researcher is the project advisor. This project provided an opportunity for them to apply their science communication knowledge in a creative and meaningful way and to link their learning to a real situation. They were able to work with others in communicating science to people in the community, with the goal of developing society and the environment in a sustainable way. The location of this activity was a community in the Pakkret district of Nontaburi province. The people in this community have medium to low levels of income. Most are merchants. Because they were interested in science, they allowed the pre-service science teachers to hold activities with their children in the community.
The activities held by the pre-service teachers emphasized science communication in the form of “edutainment,” and activities were designed to educate as well as to amuse. Edutainment typically seeks to instruct or socialize its audience by embedding lessons in familiar forms of entertainment. There were three activities, in which the pre-service science teachers had to use their communication skills, such as listening, reading, speaking and writing, promote the children’s understanding of science. The first was a “Walk Rally,” which was divided into multiple activity bases (e.g., activities of charades and holding trials). These activities provided knowledge and promoted positive attitudes toward science in the children in the community. The second was a “Science Show,” which was a science-related story (e.g., examples of scientific trials and skills in scientific procedure) designed to encourage assertiveness in both the pre-service teachers and the children in the community. Third, recreation activities were held for fun. These activities also encouraged assertiveness, unity, and leadership (e.g., games to help children in the community practice scientific skills in many ways). The pre-service teachers took turns holding these activities eight times during January and February in 2012. Juree participated in some communities where she lived and studied by conducting science communication activities, participating in a campaign, having conversations with the people in the community. The other two participants conducted similar activities in the second semester of the academic year 2012. After finishing these activities, the researcher asked the participants to write journal entries to record their practice and their reflection on the practice of science communication.
At the end of the second semester, the researcher used semi-structured interviews and recorded the interviews with each participant. The interview topics included what they communicated in the communities, how they practiced science communication in the communities, and the factors that constrained or facilitated their practices of science communication in the communities. The interviews took approximately 20 to 30 minutes. In some cases, the researcher used informal interviews to clarify some points that were not understood in the semi-structures interviews and the journal entries.
The data analysis involved organizing, reducing, and interpreting the data collected from the semi-structure interviews, the informal interviews, and the journal entries regarding the pre-service science teachers’ practice of science communication in communities after participating in science communication course. These data were analyzed using within-case analysis and cross-case analyses. The within-case analysis was conducted using the constant comparative method. The process of the data analysis using the constant comparative method comprised four steps: comparing the incidents applicable to each category; integrating categories and their properties; delimiting the theory; and reducing and refining categories and their properties (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). After the within-case analysis was completed, the cross-case analysis was performed in order to make comparisons across the three cases. The researcher identified and summarized the relevant themes that emerged with respect to each case. Similarities and differences were identified based on how the pre-service science teachers practiced science communication in the communities.
With regard to the trustworthiness of this study, the researcher increased creditability using the triangulation of various data sources, including semi-structured interviews, informal interview, and journal entries. Moreover, the researcher showed the analysis to the participants so that they could determine whether data were misinterpreted. The researcher also increased the study’s dependability by describing and explaining how the data were collected in detail and how the categories were derived. With regard to confirmability, details about the data collection, coding, and analysis were examined and reviewed by experts in science education, who gave the researcher feedback on the accuracy of the process. To achieve transferability, the researcher tried to provide thick description about the three cases’ practice of science communication into community.
