Summer Science Camp
A science course for primary students from socially disadvantaged urban environments

Reinhard Demuth, Tanja Ahlers, Pay Dierks, Daniela Efler-Mikat, Barbara Grotemeyer, Claudia Herges, Katrin Kleinert, Monika Kuchnowski, Ute Rohwedder, Iris Weigt

Honoured with the "Idee für Deutschland 2010"-Award www.forscherferien.de
www.land-der-ideen.de

Fostering science competence in early years
Summer schools supplementing the school curriculum are relatively new in Germany. With the current project we test a summer course in science for socially disadvantaged primary students.

History and application of the intervention
In 2001, the German extended version of PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) revealed that almost 20 % of the tested fourth-graders do not meet minimum requirements for successful further learning in science. Academic achievement strongly correlates with the social background of the children; school does not level inequalities caused by different family situations. By offering a science summer school, we test a possibility to compensate for the shortcomings in inspiration and encouragement these children are likely to have. The intervention takes place during the summer break between the third and fourth grades. Students of that age are highly motivated for learning science, regardless of how they evaluate their own performance at school.

Pilot Study I in 2006
During the summer of 2006 we carried out a pilot study with a group of 26 students from a disadvantaged urban area in Kiel. The IPN and scientific partner institutions offered a four-week programme featuring areas of chemistry, physics, biology, and geosciences. This first pilot study has shown that it is indeed possible to realize this kind of intervention: Practically all children participated in the programme regularly – the course content matched their academic level and interests. The children remembered what they had learned, even after several months. With time they became increasingly self-confident.

Pilot Study II in 2007/2008
Science camps are time-consuming and expensive – these factors must not inhibit the dissemination of our approach. Therefore, in a second pilot study, we tested whether it was equally successful to proceed “closer to the schools”: This time the course began with a two-week summer camp which took place at the school buildings, followed by a weekly one-hour afternoon science workshop throughout the fourth school year. Two primary schools in Kiel and two in Bochum were involved in this study, the latter being supervised by the University of Bochum. Under these modified boundary conditions, positive effects upon the children became also evident.

Evaluation phase in 2008/2009
Evaluation takes place to assess the medium and long term effects of the intervention upon the children’s development. Three schools in Kiel and one in Bochum are participating in the summer camp plus workshop, classes from two additional schools act as control groups. Through one year, data are gathered several times to assess students’ scientific reasoning skills, self confidence and motivation. The evaluation is carried out by a research team from the University of Wuppertal.

Funding

The project is funded by