Fostering Today What Is Needed Tomorrow: Investigating Students' Interest in Science

Autor/inn/en	Blankenburg, Janet Susan; Höffler, Tim Niclas; Parchmann, Ilka
Titel	Fostering Today What Is Needed Tomorrow: Investigating Students' Interest in Science
Quelle	In: Science Education, 100 (2016) 2, S.364-391 (28 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0036-8326
DOI	10.1002/sce.21204
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Elementary School Students; Grade 6; Science Interests; Factor Analysis; Models; Hands on Science; Gender Differences; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; School year 06; 6. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 06; Faktorenanalyse; Analogiemodell; Geschlechterkonflikt; Deutschland
Abstract	This paper investigates the structure of German sixth-grade students' interest in science (N = 474; age 11-12 years) by considering different subject-related contexts (biology, chemistry, and physics) and different activities. Confirmatory factor analysis models were designed to validate the hypothetical structure of interest, connecting the whole spectrum of early school science with Holland's RIASEC model, and revealed that students' interest in science is best described by a cross-classified model with latent context and activity factors. Students were most interested in investigative and hands-on activities in all contexts. Despite the young age group, there were significant gender differences with regard to interest in contexts and interest in activities. For example, girls were more interested in "artistic" and "realistic" activities among most contexts and generally in the biological context. Surprisingly, boys were more interested in "social" physics activities than girls. This paper discusses implications for future research, for school science curricula as well as for how to engage students in science with particular emphasis on gender differences. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01