Annette Scheersoi

Secondary school students’ perceptions of working life skills in science-related careers

ABSTRACT School students demonstrate a lack of interest in choosing science studies and science-related careers. To better understand the underlying reasons, this study aims to examine secondary school students’ perceptions of working life skills and how these perceptions relate to the skills of the twenty-first century. The participants in this study were 144 Finnish 7th graders (aged 13–14 years). Using a questionnaire and qualitative content analysis, we examined their perceptions of working life skills in ‘careers in science’ and ‘careers with science’. Results reveal that although students have a great deal of knowledge about working life skills, it is often just stereotyped. Sector-specific knowledge and skills were highlighted in particular but skills related to society, organisation, time and higher order thinking, were often omitted. Results also indicate that students do not associate ‘careers in science’ with creativity, innovation, collaboration or technology and ICT skills. Conversely, according to the students, these careers demand more sector-specific knowledge and responsibility than ‘careers with science’. We conclude that students need more wide-ranging information about scientific careers and the competencies demanded; such information can be acquired by e.g. interacting with professionals and their real working life problems.

Interesse und Interessenentwicklung

Interesse gilt als eine der wesentlichen Voraussetzungen fur gelingendes Lernen und ist deshalb auch in der Naturwissenschaftsdidaktik zentraler Forschungsgegenstand. ImBereich der padagogisch-psychologischen Rahmungen von Interesse lassen sich zwei Schwerpunkte identifizieren: Zum einen die Charakterisierung von aktuellen und langfristigen Interessenstrukturen (Interessiertheit und Interesse) und zum anderen die Beschreibung von (langerfristigen) Interessenentwicklungen als ein Ziel fachlicher Bildungsprozesse. Das vorliegende Kapitel stellt gangige theoretische Rahmungen beider Schwerpunkte dar (u.a. Person-Gegenstands-Konzeption; RIASEC-Modell; Vier- Phasen-Modell der Interessenentwicklung) und erlautert, wie diese weiterentwickelt und mit anderen Theorien (z. B. Selbstbestimmungstheorie der Motivation, Basic Needs) verknupft werden konnen. Damit soll dieWahl geeigneter theoretischer Rahmungen fur die Beantwortung konkreter Fragestellungen und Hypothesen ermoglicht sowie dieWahl passender Forschungsmethoden unterstutzt werden.

Dioramas as Important Tools in Biological Education

We consider that natural history dioramas are one of the most effective museum exhibit genres for the teaching and learning of many aspects of biology. Dioramas have been, hitherto, a rather neglected area of museum exhibits, butaissance is beginning for them and their educational importance in contributing to people’s understanding of the natural world. They can reach a wide audience and increase access to biological knowledge. However, science learning in museums and science centres should be viewed and remembered as a life long, cultural process in which such encounters and subsequent learning are firmly located in the context in which they are seen and the culture and context within which they are interpreted

Catching the Visitor’s Interest

Some dioramas are more attractive to museum visitors than others. These dioramas catch the visitors’ interest and make them stop and look closer. Such situational interest is essential for learning as it can hold the visitors’ attention and render them open to accommodate new knowledge. A study was conducted in three German natural history museums with diorama galleries to find out which specific features in dioramas support the development of situational interest by attracting visitors and encouraging focused observations and continued curiosity. Interest was determined using different methods in combination: observation of visitors during their visit to the diorama galleries, post-visit interviews and children’s drawings after they had viewed the gallery. The data show that the dioramas vary hugely in how successful they are in catching and holding the attention of visitors and that the development of situational interest depends on the quality of subjective experiences and the immediate emotional feedback during the visit. The reasons for such responses are manifold as visitors differ from each other in relation to their individual interests, backgrounds, experiences or preferences. Nevertheless, if a diorama provides a variety of anchor points enabling visitors to relate their previous experiences and knowledge to the scenes or artefacts presented, viewing this sort of diorama result in visitors’ feelings of enjoyment, involvement, and stimulation which are the most typical emotional aspects of an interest-based activity.