RQ 1: What are the dominant perceptions of school students in Abu Dhabi about science workshops they attended?
Students’ levels of agreement with the statements about enjoying the science workshops were very high (between 4.56 and 4.58 means out of a maximum of 5), as seen in Table 1. The students’ responses to the workshops were overwhelmingly positive, with over 95% of students agreeing or strongly agreeing that they enjoyed the experiences. Almost 90% of students agreed or strongly agreed that participating in workshops like these made them ‘more likely to study science in the future’. This was probably the most significant finding for higher educational institutions, who have a vested interest in attracting motivated students to join their science degrees.
Table 1
Quantitative survey questionnaire data: Students’ experiences of the science university workshops.
| (n = 203) | % Strongly disagree | % disagree | % neutral | % agree | % Strongly agree | Mean* | t-test (student paired) pre and post |
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Science Workshops | 1. I enjoyed doing science in a university setting (today’s workshop) more than doing science at school. | 0 | 0.97 | 8.25 | 21.4 | 66 | 4.58 | n/a |
3. When I do workshops like today’s, it makes me more likely to consider studying science. | 1.46 | 1.94 | 17.5 | 27.7 | 47.6 | 4.23 | n/a |
4. I enjoyed the activities in today’s workshop. | 0.97 | 1.46 | 3.88 | 27.18 | 64.08 | 4.56 | n/a |
*Mean value calculated by weighing the different elements on the Likert scale from 1 to 4. |
Table 1:
Quantitative survey questionnaire data: Students’ experiences of the science university workshops.
RQ 2: What science career aspirations, and inclinations towards the study of science in higher education, do the students demonstrate? And RQ 3: What variations, if any, are observed in the sampled groups before and after the science workshops?
Table 2 shows the quantitative findings – overall percentages of agreement, means and student paired t-test results comparing pre and post science workshops effect. Students’ agreement with the statement about being more likely to consider studying science as a result, was also high (Table 1). Reasonably high values around wanting to take science as a future degree choice, having a job in future which either used science or as a scientist, were observed even before the workshop participation. Low levels of disagreement with these statements both before and after the workshop were also obtained. Post-workshop the means for each of these three statements on career aspirations had increased significantly according to t-test result when compared to pre-workshop answers. This shows that a high level of agreement was in existence prior to the workshops (perhaps suggesting that a highly selective sample was chosen to visit the university) but also that a small number of students who had previously disagreed with these statements, had changed their minds as a result of the intervention, and that no student who had strongly agreed or agreed with the statements prior to the workshop then disagreed afterwards, suggesting that the intervention either didn’t negatively impact, or possibly even strengthened resolve in position, for these students
Table 2
Quantitative survey questionnaire data: Students’ attitudes towards studying science and future careers.
| (n = 203) | % Strongly disagree | % disagree | % neutral | % agree | % Strongly agree | Mean | t-test (student paired) pre and post |
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Science Career Aspirations | 5. I would like to study science at university | Pre | 5.83 | 18 | 30.6 | 20.4 | 26.7 | 3.44 | 4.28 x 10− 26 |
Post | 4.85 | 9.71 | 32.04 | 20.4 | 30.6 | 3.64 |
7. I would like to have a job in the future which uses science in some way | Pre | 7.28 | 18.45 | 29.6 | 21.4 | 25 | 3.38 | 1.3 x 10− 28 |
Post | 2.43 | 10.7 | 27.2 | 19.4 | 36.41 | 3.8 |
9. I would like to have a job as a scientist in the future | Pre | 9.2 | 24.7 | 35 | 22.3 | 8.7 | 2.97 | 3.1 x 10− 17 |
Post | 5.83 | 14.56 | 34.5 | 21.4 | 18.9 | 3.35 |
Table 2:
Quantitative survey questionnaire data: Students’ attitudes towards studying science and future careers.
Table 2 shows that the students had very positive perceptions of science even before the workshops, and over 63% either agreed or strongly agreed that they would be interested in studying science at university, having a job that uses science, and being a scientist, in the future. These had all increased by 7–8% after the workshop participation. We see that there is a positive and statistically significant change in responses to the item ‘I would like to have a job as a scientist in the future’ as a result of the workshop participation. This indicates that even though they had positive perceptions of science as a subject before, they might not necessarily have translated this into a career in science, but the workshop had instigated some reflection on this.
Table 3:
Table 3
Focus Group Interview Data – Key themes of students’ experiences of the science university workshops.
Topics | Exemplar Data (written as verbatim) | Themes |
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Trainers | o What I enjoyed more is how the trainers of each subject explained his/her work o The fact that it was mostly practical, and the instructors were knowledgeable on the subject. o I really enjoyed today's workshop. We had a great time with our teachers that we newly met. o It was nice to see that Emiratis have come so far that they can teach. o Never have I had an Emirati teacher explaining something to me. It gives me a vision of the future, that there will be more Emirati teachers. o I thought locals would always go into engineering, but from this experience, I saw that more locals are getting opportunities in science. o I think the fact that the trainers were Emirati made us feel represented and gave us inspiration. o Frankly, being taught by an Emirati is a bit unusual, so it was a different experience. | o Knowledgeability of trainers o Meeting, interacting with trainers. o Unusual experience to be with an Emirati trainer. o Inspirational o Feeling represented |
University Setting | o I loved that we were studying outside of school. o Doing these experiments in the university made it very different from our normal science. o We are starting to imagine what it would be really like to study science at school. o The biology lab allowed me to experience bio in a college setting. o The setting/ workspace, this made me really enjoy more | o Novel setting, away from school o Providing an insight into studying at university |
Independent work/ practical work | o I enjoyed the fact that we actually apply what we learned and that we got freedom doing the experiments. o I enjoyed applying the things that we have been taught ourselves rather than just learning them. o Using equipment that I used to see images about. o I enjoyed how we had the freedom of experimenting on our own and truly understanding concepts. o I mostly enjoyed the physics workshop more than the biology because of how we had to work things out on our hands. o I enjoyed how interactive and hands on both activities were, and how both experiments were beneficial. o Discussing physics and how it can be applied in real life. o I enjoyed looking at the cells of an onion since the technology here is more advanced and we used a different technique than in school. o I enjoyed the black hole activity because I got to learn something new that is interesting to me. | o Opportunity to apply learning. o Freedom/ independence to work practically. o Hands-on learning o Real life application o More advanced equipment o Learning new concepts |
Collaborative work | o I enjoyed the experiments and working as a team to figure out how to do things after learning the basics as opposed to just learning off a PowerPoint. o The group work; working on different experiments with other students. o Working in a group made it feel like a competition, which we loved. o I enjoyed the biology experiments the most. It was fun to work as a group and see the DNA. o I enjoyed working in groups to replicate how the system (Planets) work. | o Learning as a team – collaborative group work o Exploratory aspect (figuring out how to do things) o Competition opportunity |
Focus Group Interview Data – Key themes of students’ experiences of the science university workshops.
Table 3 gives an overview of the key segments the qualitative, focus group interview data. For the purposes of clarity, we have divided these into four sections which correspond to what we observed as being the most commonly discussed clusters of factors and/or those which arose from the data when prompted from the questions: trainers themselves, the setting, the type of work, and the way that the work was implemented, i.e. independently, collaborative group work etc. The qualitative responses indicate that key highlights of the experience for students were the opportunities to collaborate with one another in the labs, to gain hands-on practical experience and using equipment which they may not have seen physically before. This resonates with Finson (2010), who found that increasing students’ exposure to ‘real’ scientists through field trips, school visits to scientists’ place of work, etc., which allow students to become familiar with the actual person who works in science, rather than the fictionalized representation, is a strong means of breaking negative stereotypes.
The very significant findings were connected with students’ interactions with the trainers. Some of this was around the domain of knowledgeability, and feeling inspired that the trainers were highly competent in their science subject areas, able to explain and to respond to their questions. This is evidenced in statements such as “what I enjoyed more is how the trainers of each subject explained his/her work”. It was recognised too that the students had to be knowledgeable. This suggests that it wasn’t enough that the trainers were from their own communities, but it was a combination of admiration also closely linked to their knowledge. Another aspect was that the trainers being Emirati seemed to have impacted the students, some of whom reflected a sense that it was possible for them, too, as Emiratis, to follow a science career path. This finding cannot be understated in the UAE STEM context, and serves as an important message to both schools and higher education institutes. This is echoed in the findings of others too, such as Hernandez-Matias et al., (2020) who showed the importance of collaboration between schools and universities in order to provide those role models to students, In the students’ high school experiences, they are very unlikely to have met Emirati teachers (for those who were students from the private schools) but even government schools in the UAE (particularly boys’ schools) they are unlikely to have had Emirati teachers, but are instead taught by expatriate teachers, often from non-Gulf Arab countries (Marquez et al., 2022). This lack of representation in their experience of seeing Emiratis is nicely exemplified in the statement “never have I had an Emirati teacher explaining something to me” and “it was nice to see that Emiratis have come so far that they can teach’: So, for many of the students, the idea that those teachers could be Emiratis too, is important and clearly influential with their statements reflecting the novelty of this experience. Their statements indicate that they were questioning their own existing schemata of what kinds of jobs they were familiar with for people of their own nationality, and one also specifically mentioned “feeling represented”. As one student explained, he thought that “locals would always go into engineering”, showing an example of this kind of experiential stereotype, which would be very limiting to students looking to others for career ideas. For the students, being taught by an Emirati was “unusual”, a “different experience” which appeared to have had a profound effect on the way that they experienced the day, as the quotation “frankly, being taught by an Emirati is a bit unusual, so it was a different experience” exemplifies. In a UAE-based study by Authors (2022), only one student drawing of a scientist (from 234), could be considered to be wearing clothes representative of national dress, and no other UAE cultural symbols were evident. Given that a large percentage of the students involved were Emirati, this finding was surprising, and could indicate a ‘science is not for me’ perception for Emirati students. So, with this in mind, it is likely that the responses are indicative of the impact of the trainer’s identity, and with this, a growing sense for the participating school student that this university setting may also a possibility for them.
The fact that the trainers were all young and, in some cases, just a couple of years older than the school students, may also have been significant in dispelling the myth that teachers, or those in authority in science in particular, would always be by far the students’ elder. The effect of this may have been that the students began to see possibilities by projecting themselves as future scientists. This is a theme of research work by Schinske et al. (2016) who talk about the significance of this sense of future self as being more prolific than role models or what is traditionally thought of as role models, in having a potential impact on one’s developing career aspirations. High school, in particular at the beginning of high school, is an often-critical time for the beginnings of the STEM pipeline (Morgan et al., 2013). Positive experiences such as the ones that they had here at the workshops, as is evident from their responses, may significantly lead them towards those pathways. Interest in subject is an important determining factor in study choice and persistence towards that study choice too (Maltese & Tai, 2011; Regan & DeWitt, 2015). The igniting of interest via educational experiences and interventions such as the one described in this paper could either help to consolidate/cement previous science aspirations, or ignite new ones. Educational experiences, sometimes even ‘one off’ ones which are impactful enough, can sometimes be sufficient to lead students onto these paths (Authors, 2023).
Implications
This study showed that school students’ science perceptions can be positively affected through a variety of interesting and challenging science workshop experiences, the broader aim being to illustrate to students that science is more than a school subject, and to promote science as a potentially exciting and rewarding career path. The workshop experience in the setting of local universities may also inspire students to apply to those universities later on, having rendered the abstract experience into a more concrete one.
The fact that both the students and trainers were Emirati seemed to have particularly positive resonance with the students’ perceptions of the workshops. The idea of the ‘novelty’ of the Emirati teacher, the first experience for some of the students, has a clear implication of the need to strategise the recruitment of Emirati teachers both in schools and in higher education, and to work to make this more attractive to potential employees.
Some of the data suggested that the students’ experiences of carrying out practical work in a hands-on fashion, as opposed to observing demonstrations by the teacher or observing the practical via online videos etc. Since this appeared to be a highly positive experience, the implication is firstly that schools might consider the ways in which not providing these experiences may be negatively impacting perceptions of doing science. Secondly, we believe that it also clearly indicates the importance of students having this type of opportunities when they attend university open or taster days. In our own experience of living and working in the UAE for several decades, as with many countries it is very common for universities to recruit students either through centralised fair-type events, or for representatives of universities to attend schools and communicate in mostly lecture-style form. This kind of intervention, whilst understandably much easier logistically to organise, may mean that potential students are missing out on the kinds of benefits described in this study, where the students experience the hands-on experiments within the university setting itself. This may also imply that even outreach programs where science teams go into schools and get students to perform experiments within school settings (e.g., Authors, 2018), this might not also have the same positive, since reference was made in several data points in our study to suggest that it was the combination of both what was done during the workshops and where they were done, which had the maximum effect.
A further implication of the positive impact of using Emirati trainers (and, to generalise this into broader contexts beyond the UAE, any setting where the trainers and the students share nationality and ethnicity) is for the universities themselves. It seems that it would be very important to provide opportunities for members of the student bodies to be involved with outreach activities, rather than leaving this mostly to university faculty and/or staff. In addition to the effects on the students, we also noted a very positive impact of the involvement for the undergraduate student trainers themselves, which would be a very beneficial element to include in planning and advertisement of programs. These could be funded both at a local university level, or in partnership with governmental programs such as educational public engagement funds, or perhaps local STEM related government institutions who have a vested interest in the graduation of a core of interested STEM students.