Resources - Archived Materials

Section Four: Recommendations - Program Delivery Issues

4.4 Learning environment models

a) Co-operative education

Schools must develop successful ways to attract quality placements. They should then carefully match students and placements. The length of time students are in placements must be sufficient to allow them to become oriented, learn, practise, and be evaluated.

Co-op placements work best when employers write job descriptions in conjunction with teachers and therefore share the responsibility. We found that co-op placements were most effective when students were assigned meaningful work. This does not mean that students should not do some routine work like filing, since such jobs are a necessary part of the work scene.

At least one science teacher in every high school should be trained in co-op placement and in mentoring co-op students. All students doing science co-op placements should have science co-op teachers available to them. Science co-op programs should also include seminars that teach students interview skills and how to prepare resumes. In addition, safety issues must be addressed.

Employers should be trained to evaluate co-op students and should have their own evaluation process in place, with clear goals and performance standards. Methods of assessment are also needed to measure the outcomes of co-op experiences.

While links between school programs and the workplace have great potential, at present they are often unsuccessful. Co-op placements, therefore, should not be mandatory for the following reasons:

Extracurricular jobs or volunteer positions may meet students' needs equally well.
Some learners do not succeed in such programs.
Business and industry cannot provide the number of quality placements needed.
Nevertheless, science co-op placements can be one of the best ways to forge effective links between students and the workplace.

b) Community service

Whenever possible, community links should be encouraged as a way to increase the relevance of science to the student's life outside the classroom. Consideration should be given to providing credits for community service (e.g., a fractional credit elective). Science teachers could consider community service ISUs that address science knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

c) Out-of-classroom learning experiences

These experiences include visits to science centres, museums, planetariums, zoos, nature habitats, and outdoor education centres, as well as involvement in community and environmental projects. All of these experiences contribute in an important way to students' achievement of science literacy as defined in subsection 2.2. Science centres, museums, and planetariums, through actual student visits as well as on-the-road kit programs and virtual visits, often provide unique, leading edge displays, film, hands-on simulations, and telecommunication experiences not normally available to students and teachers. An example of this is the Canadian National Marsville Program.

Zoos, nature habitats, and especially outdoor education centres offer students an authentic context in which to learn science. In a recent national science assessment sponsored by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, half of the sixty-six questions students were asked to answer were placed in an out-of-doors nature context. Inner-city students were obviously at a great disadvantage. To satisfy curricular expectations (see subsection 2.2), an argument can be made that all students should have an extended outdoor education experience at least once in their Grade 7 to 12 schooling, as well as periodic visits to such sites as science centres, museums, zoos, and planetariums.

d) On-line learning in virtual classroom

An example of on-line learning in virtual classrooms is the Electronic Distance Education Network (EDEN) project, conducted by a consortium of ten to fifteen school boards. Our concern about this kind of learning is that students are removed from the hands-on process so necessary to science. There must be assurance that any program used will help students gain science literacy. This delivery method might be realistic for schools with small enrolments but would involve additional expenditures related to the technological initial and upkeep).

e) Continuing education

Continuing education allows individuals to take science courses that they failed to complete while attending secondary school or in which they are interested. However, the needs of lifelong learning - courses that build on and augment an individual's formal learning and life experiences-remain unfulfilled. Links with the community, parents, and business, which have the potential to strengthen the educational experience, are often ineffective or lacking. As well, too little focus is placed on the continuing education and learning needs of teachers.

f) Distance education

Distance education must preserve the hands-on nature of science and take into consideration related safety issues.

g) Apprenticeships

Many apprenticeships reflect the interdisciplinary relationship between science and the trades. This further supports our recommendation that all science students achieve science literacy.