Abstract:

In addition to regular classes, extracurricular activities in the natural sciences can help students develop their key competencies, including scientific competence. Their main goal is to make science more accessible to students while also encouraging positive attitudes toward nature, bringing them closer to the natural sciences as an integral part of daily life, promoting understanding of scientific terms, concepts, and content, and stimulating an interest in science, research, and experimentation. The fact that some studies in Croatia show a significant decline in the number of students with a scientific interest, supports the need for the early development of scientific competence (Marušić, 2006; Jokić, 2010). According to previous studies, the majority of students become interested in science and nature before the age of 14, which suggests that more effort should be put into improving the quality of science education in the first and second cycles of education (Sjoberg & Schreiner, 2010). The purpose of the study, presented in this paper, was to determine the proportion of extracurricular science activities represented in Croatian elementary school curricula, the most common science activities used at the primary level of instruction, and the main goals of their implementation. A content analysis of 300 randomly chosen primary school curricula from various Croatian counties was made. The qualitative and quantitative analysis results indicate a worryingly low representation of science extracurricular activities in school curricula. It was found that many schools don't offer even one extracurricular science activity to students in grades 1 through 4. The majority of schools only offer one extracurricular science activity, and only a small minority of schools offer three or four. Extracurricular activities that promote environmental awareness among students and education for sustainable development are the most prevalent. Following this, gardening and floristry activities are highly represented to develop students' practical gardening skills while also learning about the value of plants. Only a small number of activities are specifically designed to increase students' aptitude for science and develop students' scientific competencies. Based on these findings, it is concluded that in order to increase student interest in science, teachers need to be made aware of the significance of intensifying the planning and implementation of extracurricular science-related activities. Future teachers should prepare for the implementation of such activities during their formal teacher education. The conclusion of the paper offers guidelines and suggestions for achieving these objectives.

Keywords:

Extracurricular activities, inquiry-based learning, popularization of science, scientific literacy.