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General Science Course Use of Inquiry-Guided Learning to Develop Near-Space Experiments

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Abstract

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) literacy and practices are important to workforce development. STEM literacy and practices are also contributing factors to undergraduate students’ enrollment and retention in STEM fields of study. As a result, first- and second-year college students have been afforded a general science course to conceive, develop, build, and conduct near-space experiments based on their own perspectives about our world using weather balloons to deliver their student-generated experiments to near-space. These near-space experiments are developed using science and engineering practices found in educational and professional settings and foster students' curiosities, discovery, and expression.

This article provides a longitudinal examination of the science and engineering self-efficacy of 81 undergraduate students in a 16-week general education Science course at a metropolitan university in the United States Midwest over three academic semesters. Quantitative data were collected for a pre-survey of the students’ perceptions using the Engineering Skills Self-Efficacy Scale (ESSES). Two of the ESSES subscales were administered: Experimental Self-Efficacy Scale and Design Self-Efficacy Scale at the start of the course. A pre- and post-survey administration of the ESSES will be used to test the significance of differences between the pre- and post-surveys across the course.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, STEM literacy, General Education

How to Cite:

Nero, D. A., (2024) “General Science Course Use of Inquiry-Guided Learning to Develop Near-Space Experiments”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2024(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.17956