Survey and Interview

[AnnabelleBuda]

Survey: Practical Demonstrations for Primary School Science

[AnnabelleBuda]

Possible Changes:

• Would premade practical demonstrations be useful for teaching?
• Question: 6. Pre-prepared practical demonstrations would be useful for teaching science concepts. Disagree to Strongly Agree with numbers.
• Should probably change to just agree or disagree. Possibly use worded Disagree, Neutral, Agree.

Potential Interview Questions/ topics:

Teachers

1. Do you have a background in science?
2. When did you graduate?
3. How long have you been teaching?
4. Have you always been a teacher or did you move from another career?
5. Are you comfortable teaching science?
6. How do you spend your leisure time/ what are your out of school interests?

School structure

1. Ask more questions about hierarchy in their primary school.
2. Does the school have specialist teachers for certain areas (e.g. literacy, numeracy, sport, science, gifted/talented, support, ESL)?
3. Is science conducted in individual classrooms or with combined grades?
4. Are resources shared between classes or bought per class?
5. What kinds of resources do they already have access to for science?
6. Are resources shared between classes or bought per class?
7. If resources are shared between classes are they stored in a central location and returned there after use?
8. Are you aware of what proportion of funding is directed towards science in your school?

Lesson Approach/ Needs

1. Is it alright if a practical experiment extends over a couple of sessions, each with it’s own reflection questions?
2. How many hours per week do you spend delivering science lessons?
3. In group work, what is the ideal number of students per group?
4. What aspects of the physical world syllabus point would benefit from a practical demonstration?
5. How much of these resources are purchased by the class teacher out of pocket?
6. What do you expect this science kit will help with in your classes?
7. Would cross-curricular activities be more effective than those purely aimed at science topics?
8. Which non-science topics would be most useful to link with practical science lessons?
9. How much time/ what is involved in preparing for a science lesson?

[AnnabelleBuda]

Possible research questions:

• What practical science resources are required in NSW Stage 3 classes to engage students and promote teacher confidence in teaching science subjects?
• How will practical science kits enable stage 3 teachers in NSW primary schools to effectively teach science?
• The project focuses on the development of resources for STEM activities aligned to the Stage 3 science syllabus to promote teacher confidence in teaching science. It will consist of science kits containing information and resources for practical demonstrations and experiments for students which will be distributed through NSW primary schools to engage the students in science and guide the teachers along the syllabus points.

[AnnabelleBuda]

Notes

[AnnabelleBuda]

Science cube protocol: Interview ethics approval

Aim/ Orientation

The project focuses on the development of resources for STEM activities aligned to the Stage 3 science syllabus to promote teacher confidence in teaching science. It will consist of science kits containing information and resources for practical demonstrations and experiments for students which will be distributed through NSW primary schools to engage the students in science and guide the teachers along the syllabus points.

The science kits will then be adapted for use in schools throughout Australia with a focus on:
Templates to allow for the creation of new science kits
Cross-curriculum learning
Self-sustainability of the overall program through online discussion forums for teachers

This study will consist of a small number of qualitative interviews conducted in person to gauge the interest and viability of the above project. The information gathered through these interviews will be used to develop survey questions which will aim to identify logistical issues in the project and the direction that the project will take with regards to subject matter and scale.

Participants: Qualitative interviews
Participants will be identified by name and the sample size will be small (<15).
Participants will be known to the researcher and will be contacted via email.

Consent will be obtained: Participants will be given a PIS and asked to fill out a PCF
The interviews will be recorded by audio and with field notes.
Each interview will be <1 hour
Travel is unnecessary for participants, the interviews will be held at their convenience.

Issues

• WHERE WILL DATA BE HELD/ FOR HOW LONG?
• How will participants be identified and the sample size determined?
• How will participants be recruited?
• How will consent be obtained?
• Participants are entitled to withdraw from interviews or focus groups at any time (National Statement 2.2.20). Are there consequences for participants and researchers?
• Will the interview be recorded by audio, video or field notes? If interviewing via phone or video-conference, comply with legislation on recording telephone conversations. See telephone interviews.
• For individual interviews, recordings are normally destroyed if a participant withdraws, unless they specifically consent to you retaining their data. For focus groups and group interviews, participants must be made aware that due to the group nature of the recording they will not be able to withdraw material. Have you included this in the PIS?
• How much time do you expect the interviews or focus groups to take? Where will they be held? Will any support be provided (i.e. reimbursement for travel)?
• How will any participant distress be managed, eg by referring participants to appropriate and accessible counselling services?
• Will participants need to be fully informed and forewarned of the limits to confidentiality concerning data they provide (for example if questions may reveal illegal behaviour or be subject to mandatory reporting requirements)?
• Will a translator be required?
• Will participants or their organisations be identifiable in publications? If so this should be stated and consent obtained in the PCF. Sometimes participants are inadvertently identifiable e.g. a very rare disease or a public profile. Note in the PIS that it may not be possible to guarantee anonymity.
• Will data be kept in perpetuity and where will it be held (e.g. oral histories)? Specific consent should be obtained.
• If you require your public documents to be translated, you will need to provide certified copies once the HREC has approved the English versions. See: translations
• If a transcription service will be used, consider a confidentiality agreement with the provider.

Schools

Public schools in NSW

Prior to any research being carried out in NSW Schools the Department of Education and Communities (DEC) stipulates that you must gain approval through the State Education Research Approvals Process (SERAP).

1. Obtain ethics approval from The University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee.

2. Complete the online DEC application form.

3. Your application requires endorsement and indemnification by the University.
   Prior to submitting the DEC application form, a research application agreement must be downloaded and signed by the Chief Investigator and the Research Portfolio. The agreement serves as a confidential declaration and indemnification.
   Email a pdf copy of the signed form and your SERAP application to rp.reception@sydney.edu.au
   Within the text of the email state:

• the University HREC protocol number, and
• the status of the ethics approval: pending (include date submitted) or approved (with date).

4. The signed research application agreement will be returned via email. Attach this document to the DEC application form as per the instructions in the SERAP Guidelines and submit.
5. DEC will contact successful applicants with an approval letter to conduct research in NSW Government Schools.
   Private or independent schools
   Approval from the school principal.
   Catholic schools
   Approval from the Catholic Education Office in the relevant Diocese.
   Approval from the school principal
   In all research at schools, the final decision to participate is at the discretion of the school principal.

Forms and Templates for Ethics Applications:

Human Ethics Online Questionnaire Application From
Participant Consent Form Template
Participant Information Statement Template

Edited Forms:

Participant Consent Form Qualitative Interviews
Participant Information Statement Qualitative Interviews

[AnnabelleBuda]

Survey Software Options:

Final survey form will not use google forms, instead we will use alternative survey software.

Online Surveys

Lime Survey
CHSM Survey Builder