‘University is a place of imagination where anything can happen’: evaluating widening participation initiatives with young children.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	‘University is a place of imagination where anything can happen’: evaluating widening participation initiatives with young children.
Authors:	Sela, Katherine¹ k.sela@surrey.ac.uk, Winstone, Naomi¹
Source:	Widening Participation & Lifelong Learning. Jul2020 Special edition, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p238-245. 8p.
Subject Terms:	Evaluation methodology, Teenagers, College campuses, Universities & colleges, Questionnaire design
Abstract:	There is increasing awareness of the importance of working with younger children in widening participation initiatives. While typical evaluation methods, such as feedback questionnaires, may be appropriate for collating evidence of the impact of initiatives with older children and teenagers, these tools are less appropriate for younger children. In the context of the evaluation of a campus-based creative writing programme for 9- to 10-year-old children, this paper discusses the utility of creative approaches to evaluation. Prior to and following their visit to a university campus, children completed a worksheet to gain their perspectives of university through sentence completion, comparison and drawing tasks. These methods provide insight into how children’s perspectives are shaped by visiting a university campus, as well as differences between those who do and do not know someone who has attended university. We present snapshots of the evaluation data and discuss the implications for evaluation of widening participation initiatives with young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Widening Participation & Lifelong Learning is the property of Open University, Centre for Widening Participation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	There is increasing awareness of the importance of working with younger children in widening participation initiatives. While typical evaluation methods, such as feedback questionnaires, may be appropriate for collating evidence of the impact of initiatives with older children and teenagers, these tools are less appropriate for younger children. In the context of the evaluation of a campus-based creative writing programme for 9- to 10-year-old children, this paper discusses the utility of creative approaches to evaluation. Prior to and following their visit to a university campus, children completed a worksheet to gain their perspectives of university through sentence completion, comparison and drawing tasks. These methods provide insight into how children’s perspectives are shaped by visiting a university campus, as well as differences between those who do and do not know someone who has attended university. We present snapshots of the evaluation data and discuss the implications for evaluation of widening participation initiatives with young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	14666529
DOI:	10.5456/WPLL.22.2.238