- Investigation of Elementary and Secondary Students' Interest in Science
- Kwak, Young-Sun ; Kim, Chan-Jong ; Lee, Yang-Rak ; Jeong, Deuk-Sil ;
- Journal of the Korean earth science society, volume 27, issue 3, 2006, Pages 260~268
Abstract
Students' affective attitude not only influences their achievement in a meaningful way but is also an important educational goal in its own right. This research investigated how students' interest in science varies among elementary, middle, and high-school students based on surveys and reviews of previous research results. We analyzed students learning attitude in terms of (1) interest in and enjoyment of science, (2) instrumental motivation in science, (3) science learning anxiety, and (4) self-concept in science. Major findings are that students showed more negative attitudes in intrinsic motivation, instrumental motivation, value perception of science, and confidence in science as they move in to a higher school level. According to the students' explanation, science classes get boring in higher grades because of difficult contents, lack of experiments and activities, and the teachers' monotonous explanations. Based on the results, recommendations on how to improve students' attitudes towards science are suggested. First of all, we need to secure more science instructional hours in the school curriculum than the 7th national curriculum to implement improved science teaching and learning methods.