Science outreach and science education in the primary level: Conceptual and pedagogical challenges faced

Abstract

To achieve economic growth, countries such as Ireland need to continue investing in scientific enterprise, which necessitates having more students choose and follow scientific careers. Current literature and policies point out that science education needs structural and methodological changes to respond to this objective of challenging our youth to choose science. This has resulted in an increasing call for science outreach interventions. The main objective of this study is to confront primary level teachers and science outreach practitioners with methodological issues for fostering students interest in science. This mixed dialectic research method will be applied in order to investigate and design an effective model(s) of science outreach. It also aims to comprehend where the issues and tensions lie between science outreach and science education and how they affect the potential for the creation of partnerships between schools and outreach providers.