Developing ‘butterfly warriors’: A case study of science for citizenship

Junjun CHEN, Bronwen COWIE

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Given worldwide concern about a decline in student engagement in school science and an increasing call for science for citizenship in New Zealand Curriculum, this study focused on a butterfly unit that investigated how students in a year-4 primary classroom learnt about New Zealand butterflies through thinking, talking, and acting as citizen scientists. The butterfly unit included five lessons. The researchers observed the lessons and interviewed students and the classroom teacher. The students completed a unit evaluation survey after the unit. Findings indicate that the students enjoyed and were interested in activities such as reading about butterflies, learning and using new vocabulary, drawing butterfly life cycles, as well as hunting, tagging and releasing butterflies and publishing the data they had collected on a dedicated website. Through their participation in the unit, students had opportunities to act locally and globally, and to ‘see themselves’ in science through ‘being there’ experience. Units like this have the potential to develop students’ interest for longer-term engagement in science, even those students who may never envision themselves as professional scientists. Copyright © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht .
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2153-2177
JournalResearch in Science Education
Volume43
Issue number6
Early online dateJan 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2013

Citation

Chen, J., & Cowie, B. (2013). Developing ‘butterfly warriors’: A case study of science for citizenship. Research in Science Education, 43(6), 2153-2177.

Keywords

  • Primary science
  • Classroom study
  • Biology
  • Qualitative
  • Action

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