ชื่อผลงานทางวิชาการ
Effectiveness of a science outreach programme in regional communities of Thailand
ชื่อนักวิจัย
หมวดหมู่ผลงาน
ประเภทผลงาน
บทคัดย่อ
A visit to informal science learning settings such as
science museums and science centres can influence multidimensional aspects of
visitor experiences and outcomes including cognition, affect, attitude,
interest, motivation and behaviour related to science and learning. While many
informal settings aim to provide science learning opportunities for the general
public, geographic distance can exclude some social groups, particularly in
regional and rural areas. To overcome obstacles of distance and travel expense
to museums, science outreach programmes can bring science to target audiences
who would not or could not come to visit the museums. Evaluating such
programmes can help determine the impact of participation on visitors’ learning
experiences. This thesis is a case study examination of the impact of an
outreach programme run by the National Science Museum (NSM) of Thailand – the
NSM Science Caravan. Science Caravan has been organised as part of equity works
to increase access to museums for Thai children, particularly those in rural
areas around the country.
To measure changes in students’ attitude and motivation
towards science learning as a result of participation in Science Caravan, a pre-test/
post-test design was used to analyze the difference before (N = 1,424) and
after (N = 1,104) participation in the intervention. Direct observation was
conducted as an unobtrusive approach to investigate students’ learning-related
behaviours while they engaged with interactive exhibits (N = 589).
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 43 high school students from
four provinces to provide further reflection and self-report. The quantitative
analysis of changes in students’ attitude and motivation towards science
learning was based on psychometric measurements. One advantage of this study is
that different aspects of attitude and motivation towards science learning were
defined and measured separately with reliable and unidimensional measures. The results
of self-report questionnaires showed that participation in Science Caravan activities
had a positive impact on all three elements of attitude towards science learning:
(1) Affect - Personal feelings; (2) Cognition - Perceived value; and (3) Behavioural
intention - Future participation, as well as three dimensions of motivation towards
science learning: (1) Interest; (2) Intrinsic motivation; and (3)
Self-efficacy.
Data analysis involved structural equation modelling - based
on the theoretical framework developed in this study - to predict an intention
of future participation in science. Results showed that engaging in Science
Caravan activities had a more substantial impact on students’ attitudes about
science than on their motivation towards learning science. However, both
constructs influenced students’ intention of future participation in science.
There were no effects of gender or education levels on either the attitude or
motivation construct. Observation of students while they engaged with exhibits
provided empirical evidence of learning-related behaviours and potential learning-related
outcomes. A large majority (80%) of observed students showed overt active
engagement that can contribute to affective and cognitive learning. Exhibits which
present a combination of counterintuitive phenomenon together with multiple options
of manipulation encouraged higher levels of learning-related engagement. This has
potential to influence in-depth learning outcomes and would be interesting to address
in future studies.
สำนักพิมพ์
University of Otago
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