ERIC Number: EJ1405393
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 34
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-4308
EISSN: EISSN-1098-2736
"Djaji Mahsheye," "Moghrabeye," and "Labaneh": Making Science Relevant
Idit Adler; Christopher Karam
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, v61 n1 p103-136 2024
Students often perceive school science as purely theoretical, overloaded with facts, and mostly disconnected from their school, home, and community life. One way to bridge the disconnection between school science and lived experiences, and support students in realizing the relevance of science to their everyday life, is by enabling them to integrate their "funds of knowledge" (FoK), the knowledge and expertise people have because of their roles in their families, communities, and culture, within science. To support students in this task, we developed "Together with Science," a series of Vlogs (video blogs) designed to guide families and students through home-based experiments and support the emergence of a "third space," where science and everyday life intersect. The Vlogs provided the necessary scientific background for the experiments and encouraged participants to share aspects of their lived experiences and reflect upon the realization of scientific phenomena in their lives. Using videotaped discussions of students and family members, we examined the interactions between them, as well as the FoK addressed in the conversation. The results indicate that multiple types of interactions emerged between students and family members, as they jointly conducted the science experiments and discussed their findings. Shifts in these interactions were associated with the development of a "shared third space," in which both students and family members were able to concurrently relate everyday life to the scientific phenomenon. Most FoK were associated with participants' homes and culture. Our results suggest that family members can serve as "brokers" to support their children in realizing the relationship between science and their everyday life, by bringing in their unique FoK into the scientific discussion, and highlighting the importance of thoughtfully designed learning environments to support them in the process.
Descriptors: Science Education, Relevance (Education), Cultural Capital, Science Experiments, Family Environment, Cultural Influences
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A