Evaluation of an Early Exposure Program for Upper Secondary School Students Promoted by the Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University

Abstract

An early exposure program for upper secondary school students was introduced in the Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University in 2000 in order to develop interest in science education. Questionnaires were distributed to participants twice, in 2003 and 2004, in order to examine the effects of the program. In the 2004 questionnaires, more than 90% of the students who participated in Experiment 1 (Medical effects through the observation of expansion and contraction of an extracted intestinal tract from a guinea pig: 38 participants) and in Experiment 2 (Extraction of caffeine from popular foods such as coffee, green tea, or Coca Cola: 36 participants) answered that they were satisfied with the overall program. 68% of the participants in Experiment 1 and 61 % of the participants in Experiment 2 answered that they enjoyed the program. Moreover, 90% of the participants answered that the present program had increased their interest in chemistry, 30% of which answered that the program had increased their interest a great deal. It was found that 71 % of the applicants preparing for college entrance examinations had taken the examination for our university, and 60.5% of the applicants had taken the examination for our Faculty of Pharmacy in 2004. These findings suggest that the program promoted by our university is useful for developing interest in science education and in medical staff careers as well.