The purposes of this study were to determine what program characteristics African American parents consider when they enroll their children into an informal science education enrichment program, the parents? evaluation of a program called Jordan Academy in which they enrolled their children, and the alignment of the parents? perspectives with Black Cultural Ethos (BCE). BCE refers to nine dimensions posited by Wade Boykin, a psychologist, as comprising African American culture. Participants were parents of students that attended Jordan Academy, an informal science enrichment program designed for third through sixth grade students from underserved populations. Qualitative methodologies were utilized to perform a thorough assessment of parents? perspectives. Data sources included classroom observations, student surveys, academy curriculum, photos and video-taped class sessions. Data included teachers and parents? responses to semi-structured, audio recorded interviews and students? written responses to open-ended items on the program?s evaluation instrument. The data were analyzed for themes. and the findings compared to Black Cultural Ethos. Findings revealed that the participants believed that informal science education offered their children opportunities not realized in the formal school setting - a means of impacting their children holistically. The parents expressed the academic, cultural, and personal development of their children in their characterizations of the ideal informal science education experience and in their evaluations of Jordan Academy. Overall, the parents? views emphasized the BCE values of harmony, affect, verve, movement, orality and communalism. The study has important implications for practices within and research on informal science education.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-05102007-012002 |
| Date | 14 May 2007 |
| Creators | Simpson, Jamila Rashida |
| Contributors | Eileen Parsons, Allen Riordan, Len Annetta, Glenda Carter |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-05102007-012002/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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