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Assessment of an APS PhUn week activity in second grade school children of a rural area (531.22)
Author(s) -
Edelman James,
Gurovich Alvaro
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.531.22
Subject(s) - event (particle physics) , psychology , magic (telescope) , medicine , pediatrics , demography , sociology , quantum mechanics , physics
In the last few years the United States has been on the decline in the fields of science and technology. The American Physiological Society (APS) has developed a program to engage young minds with scientists. Physiology Understanding Week (PhUn) is the APS initiative to use interactive experiments to engage school‐age children with science and physiology. Even though PhUn week has been going on since 2005, systematic assessment of the activities effects is rare. Here, we sought to assess if an APS PhUn week activity enhances physiology understanding and interest in science in second grade children form a rural area. The assessment design was a pre/post PhUn week activity survey. The PhUn week event included two parts: 1) on stage ‘magic’ show, performing live experiments about the neurological, cardiovascular, and renal systems, and 2) small‐group hands‐on activities featuring the respiratory, renal, cardiovascular, and neurological systems. One day before and within a week after the event the children answered a brief 19‐question survey including general questions about their interest in science and specific questions about the topics covered during the event. Ninety‐eight children attended the PhUn week event. Five out of 98 children did not answer the pre‐event survey. The average pre‐event survey score was 45.8% (±13.1%) and two thirds of the children liked science. After the event, the average survey score was 65.3% (±14.5%)(significantly higher when compared to pre‐event, p<0.001) and 83% of the children liked science. This APS PhUn week assessment showed an improvement in knowledge and appreciation for science in second grade children from a rural area.