Gina Childers

Science hobbyists: active users of the science-learning ecosystem

ABSTRACT Science hobbyists engage in self-directed, free-choice science learning and many have considerable expertise in their hobby area. This study focused on astronomy and birding hobbyists and examined how they used organizations to support their hobby engagement. Interviews were conducted with 58 amateur astronomers and 49 birders from the midwestern and southeastern United States. A learning ecology framework was used to map the community contexts with which the hobbyists acted. Results indicated seven contexts that supported the participants’ hobby involvement over time: home, K-12 schools, universities, informal learning institutions, hobby clubs, conferences, and community organizations. Three themes emerged that described how hobbyists interacted with organizations in their communities: (1) organizations provided multiple points of entrance into the science-learning ecosystem, (2) organizations acted as catalysts to facilitate a hobbyist’s development in their hobby, and (3) the relationship between hobbyists and organizations they used for learning eventually became bidirectional. Results showed that both astronomy and birding hobbyists used science-learning organizations to meet their hobby-related learning goals. Most hobbyists in the sample (90% astronomers, 78% birders) also engaged in outreach and shared their hobby with members of their community. Patterns of interaction of the astronomy and birding hobbyists within the seven contexts are discussed.

Characteristics of lifelong science learners: an investigation of STEM hobbyists

ABSTRACT STEM hobbies are free-choice activities through which participating individuals may develop sophisticated STEM knowledge and expertise. To date, research into STEM hobbies and hobbyists has examined hobby groups by subject area. Missing from this body of work is research that examines the development and participation in different types of hobbies by age, ethnicity, and gender of participants. This research, part of a larger series of investigations of American adult STEM hobbyists, aims to fill that gap. Surveys were completed by 2,838 respondents from ten different STEM hobbies (astronomy, beekeeping, birding, electronics/robotics, environmental monitoring, falconry, gardening/horticulture, home brewing, model building, rock/fossil collecting). Results showed that there is great variation between STEM hobby groups across multiple variables and divergent descriptive profiles emerged for each group. Results also showed that, in several groups, more than half of the adult hobbyists reported first participating in their hobby during their youth. This study illustrates how crucial childhood experiences are to encouraging lifelong explorations in STEM and provides information about the types of experiences hobbyists reported as being influential to their hobby-related learning and development. This information may be used by educators and organizations to design programs to support current and future hobbyists.

Free choice science learning and STEM career choice

ABSTRACT This study investigated the relationship between engaging in free choice STEM activities (hobbies) and career selection with the goal of understanding the factors that influence the development of science interests and science identity for those who chose a STEM career and those that did not. The 2864 participants in the study were adult hobbyists that included birders, astronomers, gardeners, model builders, insect collectors, rock/fossil collectors, home brewers, beekeepers, inventors, and environmental monitors. Participants completed a survey about their educational background, levels of hobby participation, motivation to participate in the hobby, perceived benefits of participating in the hobby, influences to continue to continue to engage in the hobby, reported influences on career choice influences, and perceived science identity. Results showed hobbyists with STEM careers were significantly more likely than those without STEM careers to rate elementary, middle, and high school experiences as well as college, museums and science centers, and clubs as influential on the development of the hobby. Those hobbyists with STEM careers were significantly more likely than those without a STEM career to report more ability in science, mathematics, and technology and to report that their choice of a career was influenced by factors such as enjoyment, encouragement from family, and hobby involvement. Conclusions suggest that engagement in a science hobby can provide support for youth to continue on to a STEM career as an adult.

Citizen scientists and non-citizen scientist hobbyists: motivation, benefits, and influences

ABSTRACT Creating citizens interested in science and able to participate in science discourse and decisions is one of the goals of science education. Science hobbyists embody this goal through their life-long leisure interests and engagement in science. This study compared the motivations, perceived hobby benefits, and factors that influenced their hobby development for citizen-scientists and non-citizen scientists. A deeper understanding of factors that relate to involvement in both citizen science and science hobbies may inform efforts to encourage such participation. Data were collected through open-ended interviews with 107 amateur astronomer and birder hobbyists (67 citizen scientists and 40 non-citizen science participants) and an online survey. The results of the interviews informed the development of the online survey that was distributed nationally; participants included 2119 non-citizen scientists and 745 citizen scientists. Citizen scientists reported different hobby-related motivations, interests, and experiences than non-citizen science hobbyists. Male citizen scientists were more likely than male non-citizen scientists to report sharing information with others and educating youth as important motives to their hobby participation. As compared to non citizen-scientists, citizen scientists reported being more influenced in their hobby by formal and informal educational institutions, were more likely than non-citizen scientist hobbyists to report publishing articles for the public and using electronic media to communicate with other hobbyists. Citizen scientists reported improved science process skills and a better understanding of the nature of science. The implications of the results for a deeper understanding of what encourages individuals to participate in citizen science and science hobbies are discussed.

Learning from a distance: high school students’ perceptions of virtual presence, motivation, and science identity during a remote microscopy investigation

ABSTRACT Through partnerships with scientists, students can now conduct research in science laboratories from a distance through remote access technologies. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that contribute to a remote learning environment by documenting high school students’ perceptions of science motivation, science identity, and virtual presence during a remote microscopy investigation. Exploratory factor analysis identified 3 factors accounting for 63% of the variance, which suggests that Science Learning Drive (students’ perception of their competence and performance in science and intrinsic motivation to do science), Environmental Presence (students’ perception of control of the remote technology, sensory, and distraction factors in the learning environment, and relatedness to scientists), and Inner Realism Presence (students’ perceptions of how real is the remote programme and being recognised as a science-oriented individual) were factors that contribute to a student’s experience during a remote investigation. Motivation, science identity, and virtual presence in remote investigations are explored.

The Efficacy of Visuohaptic Simulations in Teaching Concepts of Thermal Energy, Pressure, and Random Motion

This study investigated the efficacy of a real-time, interactive visuohaptic simulation to teach students particulate motion and the concepts of thermal energy, pressure, and random motion. Students were able to experience forces through their own somatosensory system in real time. Participants included 78 middle school students who completed a pre-, post-, and delayed post-assessment of knowledge and a post-assessment of attitudes and investigated particle motion using either the visuohaptic or a control visual simulation. The results showed that there were significant gains in the knowledge of thermal energy, pressure, and random motion for both groups of students from pre- to post-assessment. There were no significant differences in post scores between those students that used visuohaptic technology compared to those in the control group who used only a visual simulation. However, students in the visuohaptic group reported that the investigation was highly interesting and enabled them to better understand particle motion as well as visualize movement. The role of haptic instructional technologies as tools to teach micro- and human-scale phenomena is discussed.