Secondary School Apprenticeship Research Experience: Scientific Dispositions and Mentor-Student Interaction
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Background
1.1.1. Apprenticeship as a Long-Term, Complex, Authentic Inquiry
1.1.2. Scientific Dispositions
Self-Efficacy in Science
Intrinsic Goal Orientation in Science
Sense of Control over Learning
STEM Career Choice
1.1.3. Apprenticeship as an Environment for Mentor-Student Interaction
2. Materials and Method
2.1. Research Questions
- What are the scientific dispositions and STEM career choices of secondary school students who participate in a STEM-RAP? Are there differences according to different subgroups (by gender and ethnic group)?
- What differences in scientific dispositions, if any, are there between students who participate in a STEM-RAP and those who participate in other STEM programs?
- Which aspects of mentor-student interaction are evident in the STEM-RAP experience as perceived by the students and mentors?
2.2. Description of the Program
2.3. Participants
2.4. Research Tools
2.5. Factor Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Scientific Dispositions and STEM Career Choices during Research Apprenticeships
3.2. Mentor–Student Interaction
4. Discussion
Contributions and Recommendations
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Section | Description | STEM-RAP Students (n) | STEM-Major Students (n) |
---|---|---|---|
Gender | Male | 118 | 17 |
Female | 144 | 40 | |
Community 1 | Jewish | 215 | |
Arab | 47 |
Section | Category (# of Statements) | Item Example | Cronbach Alpha Reliability |
---|---|---|---|
Section 1 | Self-efficacy—Science (5) | If I learn in a way that suits me, I will be able to cope with any new material in the sciences. | 0.624 |
Intrinsic goal orientation (3) | In scientific subjects, I prefer learning material that will stimulate my curiosity, even if it is hard to learn. | 0.584 | |
Sense of control over learning (4) | I am confident that I will be able learn the skills that are required in the sciences. | 0.592 | |
STEM career choice (5) | I would like to continue with higher education in the sciences and engineering. | 0.832 | |
Section 2 | Scientific relationship (4) | Work with a scientist/engineer increases my sense that science is an interesting field. | 0.715 |
Motivational- Affective relationship (4) | Working alongside a scientist/engineer raises my confidence to conduct scientific research. | 0.744 |
Category/(No. of Items) Min = 1, Max = 5 | Male n = 92 Mean (S.D.) | Female n = 105 Mean (S.D.) | Mann–Whitney U Test |
Scientific–cognitive relationship (4) | 4.08 (0.70) | 4.18 (0.83) | n.s. |
Motivational–affective relationship (4) | 4.20 (0.64) | 4.24 (0.64) | n.s. |
(a) | |||
Category/(No. of Items) Min = 1, Max = 5 | Majority n = 158 Mean (S.D.) | Minority n = 40 Mean (S.D.) | Mann–Whitney U Test |
Scientific–cognitive relationship (4) | 4.06 (0.80) | 4.40 (0.61) | U(89) = 505, z = −2.23, p = 0.026, r = −0.24 |
Motivational–affective relationship (4) | 4.19 (0.67) | 4.33 (0.56) | n.s. |
(b) |
Quotes | Category | Theme |
---|---|---|
“Every year I had two or three students that I guided in the research process and started with lectures. I gave them a series of lectures on semiconductors and devices.” (mentor 2)“I start the research process with the theory, to see how they perceive and understand the concepts.” (mentor 4)“They always received information (about the principles of the method), they went home, came back and then we would discuss this issue together.” (mentor 2) | Content knowledge | Knowledge development |
“Then the students prepared the bacteria, everything from scratch. It got to the point where one student was completely independent, I demonstrated to her, and she did the experiment completely by herself” (mentor 6)“I think the student I guided was special and I don’t think this is a representative experience. I sent him a protocol or an explanation regarding what needs to be done and within fifteen minutes he already understood everything” (mentor 8)“In the first sessions, the students actually prepare and learn the background of the field, in terms of knowledge so that they understand what they are doing” (mentor 3)“In the second stage of the research process I move to the practical tools, in our case it was bioinformatics on the computer” (mentor 4)“The projects of two of my students in biology and biotechnology were more complex from a technical point of view, so they required more close guidance [in performing the experiment]” (mentor 6) | Procedural knowledge | |
“When we got to the discussion section, we talked about how we should write the discussion..., we need to see if the claim we are making is consistent with what the scientific world is or if it is a contradictory claim. We need to show the contradictions, or we need to show papers that support, or papers that tested what we tested under similar conditions... They see that it is necessary to refer to the literature” (mentor 7) | Epistemic knowledge | |
I said to him [the student]: “You heard what we do in the lab, go home and think about what you want to investigate that is related to what we are investigating and I will see if I can help you with it. He [the student] came back with a general idea and together we discussed the idea and formulated a research question” (mentor 8)“One student was very independent in her thinking. It’s not like I told her that the experiment would have B, A and C, what do you think? She had a very high comprehension ability, she was brilliant. There were initiatives that were entirely her own that suited the research exactly as I thought. Again, not with all students it’s ‘straight forward” (mentor 7) | Partnership | |
“The technical parts of the process are less important—more successful, less successful... what is important is that you see a student who is trying, and you help him a lot because you want to promote him” (mentor 3)“Encouraging a student who goes home nervous is very important, because he should not go that way. The understanding that there is not always success is an important part of the process. We’ve all experienced it” (mentor 9)“One of my students did not come to the meetings, at first we only met once every three months. I called him to meet, and he said he had other occupations in sports—in football. Although the whole environment wanted him to progress (the school, his mother...) he was not interested enough. I thought he wouldn’t finish the research, but I managed to pull him in and we did great research and he got a high score. It was a miracle” (mentor 2)“I had one student who broke down towards the end of the research process. I had to pick her up and encourage her and help her more with writing as well” (mentor 1) | Emotional support |
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Edry, M.; Sasson, I.; Dori, Y.J. Secondary School Apprenticeship Research Experience: Scientific Dispositions and Mentor-Student Interaction. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 441. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13050441
Edry M, Sasson I, Dori YJ. Secondary School Apprenticeship Research Experience: Scientific Dispositions and Mentor-Student Interaction. Education Sciences. 2023; 13(5):441. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13050441
Chicago/Turabian StyleEdry, Mercedes, Irit Sasson, and Yehudit Judy Dori. 2023. "Secondary School Apprenticeship Research Experience: Scientific Dispositions and Mentor-Student Interaction" Education Sciences 13, no. 5: 441. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13050441