The relationship that exists between students and science and technology (S&T) is a complex and important one. If it is positive, then social, economic and environmental consequences are to be expected. Yet, many problems of interest/motivation/attitude (I/M/A) towards S&T have been recorded. A lot of research has been conducted on this topic and a certain number of syntheses have been proposed, but very few of them have followed sufficiently systematic procedures. In this article, we offer a synthetic and systematic description of 228 research articles that were published between 2000 and 2012 and indexed in the ERIC database under I/M/A for S&T at K-12 levels. We focus on the origin of these articles, on the constructs they use and define, on the instruments, and finally on the results they provide, whether correlative or causal. Conclusions and recommendations for future research and interventions are formulated.

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Interest, motivation and attitude towards science and technology at K-12 levels: a systematic review of 12 years of educational research

This paper reviews the remarkably similar experiences of school science reported by high school students in Sweden, England, and Australia. It compares student narratives from interpretive studies by Lindahl, by Osborne and Collins, and by Lyons, identifying core themes relating to critical contemporary issues in science education. These themes revolve around the transmissive pedagogy, decontextualized content, and unnecessary difficulty of school science commonly reported by students in the studies. Their collective experiences are used as a framework for examining student conceptions of, and attitudes to, school science more generally, drawing on an extensive range of international literature. The paper argues that the experiences of students in the three studies provide important insights into the widespread declines in interest and enrolments in high school and university science courses.

Different countries, same science classes: Students’ experiences of school science in their own words

The purpose of this analysis is to describe the variation in students' reports of engagement in science across science teaching and learning activities. In addition, this study examines student and school characteristics that may be associated with students' levels of engagement in science. Data are drawn from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2006 study. The analysis employs a quantitative approach that includes descriptive and inferential statistics to examine three measures of student engagement for a nationally representative sample of approximately 12,000 15-year-old students in the UK. The main results indicate that there is an association between students' motivation towards science, enjoyment of science and future orientation towards science, and the frequency in which various teaching and learning activities take place in the classroom. Understanding student engagement in science and the factors that influence it is essential in addressing the issue of uptake of science after compulsory schooling.

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Science Teaching and Learning Activities and Students' Engagement in Science

Children from England and the United States of America have a basic similar knowledge of plants and animals, which they observe during their everyday life. Nine children of ages 4, 6, 8, and 10 years, in each country, were asked to free-list plants and animals. Afterwards, they were interviewed individually about the plants and animals they listed to determine where they were seen. Addition- ally, children were asked to name animals they knew that were found in specific habitats or had specific character- istics. The results showed that children from the earliest years notice the animals in their everyday lives and 8 year olds were able to name the most animals. Plants were not named as often as animals and children in the USA found it difficult to name plants when questioned. This study shows that children are in touch with their everyday environment to varying extents, and that rich experiences can greatly contribute to their knowledge about plants and animals.

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What Plants and Animals Do Early Childhood and Primary Students’ Name? Where Do They See Them?

Despite a few international comparisons of the evolutionary beliefs of the general public, comparatively less research has focused on science teachers. Cross‐cultural studies offer profitable opportunities for exploring the interactions among knowledge and belief variables in regard to evolution in different socio‐cultural contexts. We investigated the evolutionary worldviews of pre‐service science teachers from Asia (specifically South Korea), a region often excluded from international comparisons. We compared Korean and American science teachers’: (1) understandings of evolution and the nature of science, and (2) acceptance of evolution in order to elucidate how knowledge and belief relationships are manifested in different cultural contexts. We found that Korean science teachers exhibited ‘moderate’ evolutionary acceptance levels comparable to or lower than American science teacher samples. Gender was significantly related to Korean teachers’ evolution content knowledge and acceptance of evolution, wit...

A Cross‐Cultural Comparison of Korean and American Science Teachers’ Views of Evolution and the Nature of Science

This paper reports an interpretive study that sought students' views about the role that practical work plays in their school science lessons. Twenty-nine students aged between 13 and 16 years were selected from three secondary schools in England. Data were collected from initial lesson observations and in-depth interviews in order to explore students’ views about practical work. The findings suggest that students have three main reasons why practical work is important in their school science lessons: for interest and activity, including social and personal features such as participation and autonomy; as an alternative to other forms of science teaching involving a pedagogy of transmission, and as a way of learning, including memorizing and recall. The findings are discussed in the context of a critical view of previous work on the role of practical work, work on attitudes to science and on the student voice. The paper concludes that practical work is seen to provide opportunities for students to engage with and influence their own learning but that learning with practical work remains a complex issue that needs further research and evaluation about its use, effectiveness and of the role of scientific inquiry as a component of practical activity.

Students’ Views About Secondary School Science Lessons: The Role of Practical Work

This paper provides a critical review of the changes to the role of practical work in the science curriculum in England over the last forty years. The science curriculum over this period appears to place an emphasis on an approach to practical enquiry that suggests school students can act like ‘real’ scientists. This paper provides a critical perspective of this view as it traces the developments of practical work and draws on the literature and on empirical work about how practical science in the secondary school (ages 11 to 18 years) has been enacted over this time period and gives some suggestions about the current situation and how practical work might develop in the future.

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'I do and I understand?': practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools.

The theory of evolution by natural selection is contrasted in the media, and in some schools, with creationist ideas, in which the diversity of life on Earth is said to be the result of direct species-by-species creation, not of evolution. More recently, the Intelligent Design movement has claimed that “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection” (Intelligent Design Network website). A sample of 35 trainee and 29 experienced teachers from secondary schools in England were interviewed about their views, teaching and school policies regarding Darwin's theory of evolution and challenges to it, shortly before an organisation promoting Intelligent Design sent resources to all science departments in the United Kingdom. Data were grouped according to responses to creationist views, school policies and the value of the theory of evolution by natural selection. The majority of the teachers and trainees...

In the Shadow of Intelligent Design: The Teaching of Evolution.

This research explores how six small groups of 14‐year‐old to 16‐year‐old pupils, from three schools, dealt with anomalous results when they evaluated science investigations over a 2‐year period. The pupils were observed, interviewed, and their written reports analysed to answer the main questions about their understanding, identification, and actions taken about anomalous results. The findings are explored and discussed in terms of expectations from conceptual knowledge; access to apparatus, time, and assessment constraints in school science; and the cognitive and epistemological frameworks used. Conclusions are that pupils can identify anomalous results from patterns in tables or graph lines of best fit but take little practical action about them as they use everyday or “engineering” frameworks instead of authentic scientific approaches. The implications for management and teaching, for assessment policy, and the curriculum model adopted are suggested, as are the implications for further research and de...

Evaluating Science Investigations at Ages 14–16: Dealing with anomalous results

Contents List Of Figures and Tables List of Tasks Contributors Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Acronyms Introduction to The Series Information About the Authors Acknowledgements 1. Becoming a Science Teacher Introduction Unit 1.1 Learning To Be A Science Teacher Jenny Frost Unit 1.2 Managing Your Professional Development Jenny Frost Unit 1.3 Working Within A Science Department Ian Longman 2. The Science Curriculum Introduction Unit 2.1 Science In The National Curriculum Jenny Frost Unit 2.2 Science 11-14 Jenny Frost Unit 3.3 Science 14-19 Jenny Frost 3. Getting To Grips With Science Introduction Unit 3.1 The Nature Of Science Michael Reiss Unit 3.2 Biology Katherine Little Unit 3.3 Chemistry Tony Turner Unit 3.4 Physics and Astronomy Jenny Frost Unit 3.5 Earth Science Tony Turner 4. Planning For Teaching and Learning Science Introduction Unit 4.1 Planning For Progression Ralph Levinson Unit 4.2 Using Schemes Of Work To Support Planning Jenny Frost Unit 4.3 Planning and Evaluating Lessons Bernadette Youens Unit 4.4 Teaching Strategies and Organising Learning Pete Sorensen 5.Teaching Science: Specific Contexts Introduction Unit 5.1 Language In Science Jenny Frost Unit 5.2 Practical Work In Science Jenny Frost Unit 5.3 Using Ict For Learning Science Ruth Amos Unit 5.4 Science For Citizenship Marcus Grace Unit 5.5 Sex and Health Education Jane Maloney Unit 5.6 Beyond The Classroom Ruth Amos 6. Assessment and Examinations Introduction Unit 6.1 Assessment For Learning Christine Harrison Unit 6.2 External Assessment And Examinations Jenny Frost 7. Beyond Qualified Teacher Status Jenny Frost and Ralph Levinson References Websites Index

Rob Toplis

Papers

Students’ Views About Secondary School Science Lessons: The Role of Practical Work

'I do and I understand?': practical work and laboratory use in United Kingdom schools.

In the Shadow of Intelligent Design: The Teaching of Evolution.

Evaluating Science Investigations at Ages 14–16: Dealing with anomalous results

Learning to teach science in the secondary school : a companion to school experience