Student Camps to Promote Scientific Vocations in STEM: The Quimi Camp Case
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15359/ru.37-1.8Keywords:
high school students, science camp, chemistry camps, quimi camp, scientific vocations, significant university selection, STEMAbstract
[Objective] From 1988 to 2018, high school students in Costa Rica had to pass a final exam to graduate from high school and be eligible for public university education. In this context, students had to choose a national science test from the areas of physics, chemistry, and biology. Historically, chemistry was the least chosen (4-6 %) of those sciences. On the other hand, there is a need -at the national level- to increase interest in careers related to STEM (Sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics). [Methodology] Under both premises, in 2016, the first national camp (called Quimi Camp) to promote scientific vocations was held to encourage high school students in Costa Rica to choose chemistry. Quimi Camp is an event supported by the OLCOQUIM National Chemistry Olympiad and the OLCOCI National Science Olympiad, which are in turn organized by the five Costa Rican State universities and the LANOTEC CENAT National Nanotechnology Laboratory at the National Center of High Technology, with the consent of the Ministry of Education (MEP) and the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunication (MICITT). The participating students made the final evaluation of this event. [Results] The results showed an excellent perception of the event regarding its organization and content. [Conclusions] Quimi Camp promoted students' vocation for science and engineering and positively influenced the selection of a University Career in STEM.
References
Antink-Meyer, A., Bartos, S., Lederman, J. S., & Lederman, N. G. (2016). Using science camps to develop understandings about scientific inquiry—Taiwanese students in a U.S. summer science camp. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 14, 29–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9576-3
Araújo, A. (2015). Feira de ciências: contribuições para a alfabetização científica na educação básica [Doctoral dissertation]. Universidad Federal do Ceará, Brasil. 111-134.
Archer, L., Dewitt, J., Osborne, J., Dillon, J., Willis, B., & Wong, B. (2012). Science Aspirations, Capital, and Family Habitus How Families Shape Children's Engagement and Identification With Science. American Educational Research Journal, 36(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831211433290
Bischoff, P. J., Castendyk, D., Gallagher, H., Schaumloffel, J., & Labroo, S. (2008.) A Science Summer Camp as an Effective Way to Recruit High School Students to Major in the Physical Sciences and Science Education. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 3(3), 131–141.
Bogdan, R. & Biklen, S. K. (1998). Qualitative Research for Education: An introduction to theories and methods. Allyn and Bacon, Inc.
Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Apfel, N., & Master, A. (2006). Reducing the racial achievement gap: a social-psychological intervention. Science, 313(5791), 1307-1310. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1128317
Dabney, K. P., Tai, R. H., Almarode, J. T., Miller-Friedmann, J. L., Sonnert, G., Sadler, P. M., & Hazari, Z. (2012). Out-of-School Time Science Activities and Their Association with Career Interest in STEM. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 2(1), 63–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2011.629455
Fundación Aqbuae. (2017). Informe de impacto de EscueLab 2017, España.
Fields, D. A. (2009). What do Students Gain from a Week at Science Camp? Youth perceptions and the design of an immersive, research‐oriented astronomy camp. International Journal of Science Education, 31(2), 151-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500690701648291
Krapp, A., Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. A. (1992). Interest, learning, and development. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350080510
Kong, X., Dabney, K. P., & Tai, R. H. (2014). The Association Between Science Summer Camps and Career Interest in Science and Engineering. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 4(1), 54–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2012.760856
Leblebicioglu, G., Metin, D., Capkinoglu, E., Cetin, P. S., Eroglu Dogan, E., & Schwartz, R. (2017). Changes in Students' Views about Nature of Scientific Inquiry at a Science Camp. Science & Education, 26(7–9), 889–917. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-017-9941-z
Lindner, M. & Kubat, C. (2014). Science Camps in Europe--Collaboration with Companies and School, Implications and Results on Scientific Literacy. Science Education International, 25(1), 79–85.
Maltese, A. V., Melki, C. S., & Wiebke, H. L. (2014). The Nature of Experiences Responsible for the Generation and Maintenance of Interest in STEM. Science Education, 98(6), 937–962. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21132
Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica. (2018). Informe Nacional Bachillerato 2017. Rendimiento y niveles de desempeño. Dirección de Gestión y Evaluación de la Calidad, Departamento de Evaluación Académica y Certificación.
Pérez, A. (2012). Actitudes hacia la Ciencia en Primaria y Secundaria [Doctoral dissertation]. Universidad de Murcia, Facultad de Educación, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Murcia, España. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/120484
Programa Estado de la Nación (2017) Sexto informe estado de la educación / PEN. Cap 6, 277-296. San José, Costa Rica. https://repositorio.conare.ac.cr/bitstream/handle/20.500.12337/665/804.%20Sexto%20Informe%20del%20Estado%20de%20la%20Educaci%c3%b3n_VI%20Informe%20Estado%20de%20la%20Educaci%c3%b3n%202017_Libro%20completo.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Retana, D. A., Bartolomé, B., & Camacho, M. M. (2018). Science and Technology Fairs of Costa Rica and their contributions to Secondary Education. Journal Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, 18(2), 1-43. https://doi.org/10.15517/aie.v18i2.33170
Rivas, F. (2007). ¿Conducta y asesoramiento vocacional en el mundo de hoy? Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 5(1). 5-14. https://doi.org/10.25115/ejrep.v5i11.1233
Robbins, M. E., & Schoenfisch, M. H. (2005). An Interactive Analytical Chemistry Summer Camp for Middle School Girls. Journal of Chemical Education, 82(10), 1486. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed082p1486
Sadler, T. D, Burgin, S., McKinney, L., & Ponjuan, L. (2010). Learning Science through Research Apprenticeships: A Critical Review of the Literature. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(7), 235-256. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20326
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors guarantee the journal the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors can set separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, place it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
3. The authors have declared to hold all permissions to use the resources they provided in the paper (images, tables, among others) and assume full responsibility for damages to third parties.
4. The opinions expressed in the paper are the exclusive responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the editors or the Universidad Nacional.
Uniciencia Journal and all its productions are under Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Unported.
There is neither fee for access nor Article Processing Charge (APC)
