In this participatory action research study, we answered the question, How can we improve attitudes toward science education of the African American girls at an elementary school? Girls in grades 3-6 completed the Modified Attitudes toward Science Inventory. A purposeful sample of 30 girls participated in several focus-group interviews throughout…

Korean students have shown relatively little interest and confidence in learning science, despite being ranked in the top percentile in international evaluations of academic achievement in science such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Although research indicates a positive relationship between student perceptions of…

That nature and the universe are ordered, uniform, and comprehensible is a starting point in science. However, such worldview presuppositions are often taken for granted, rather than explicitly mentioned, in science and in science class. This article takes a worldview perspective and reports from interviews (N = 26) with upper secondary students…

Students' declining science interest in middle school is often attributed to psychological factors like shifts of motivational values, decrease in self-efficacy, or doubts about the utility of schooling in general. This paper adds to accounts of the middle school science problem through an ethnographic, longitudinal case study of three…

In the wake of interest-study research in science education over the past 10 years, investigators have published many articles on how to define, measure, and develop students' interest in learning science. This present study approaches empirical investigations on students' interest in learning science from a different perspective. We…

This year-long, quasi-experimental study investigated the impact of the use of netbook computers and interactive science software on fifth-grade students' science learning processes, academic achievement, and interest in further science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) study within a linguistically diverse school district in…

Background: Interest is assumed to be relevant for students' learning processes. Many studies have investigated students' interest in science; most of them however have not offered differentiated insights into the structure and elements of this interest. Purpose: The aim of this study is to obtain a precise image of secondary school…

The 2011 National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam event at Towson University enabled a large group of blind youth to participate in a five day long science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academy. Enrichment experiences such as this one may generate interest in STEM subjects for students with visual impairments. For decades,…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of science field trips as educational tools to connect students to classroom concepts. Experiential learning at formal and informal field trip venues increases student interest, knowledge, and motivation. The teacher's role in preplanning, implementation, and reflection often dictates the…

Based on surveys undertaken by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) and by the Direction de l'évaluation de la prospective et de la performance (Directorate of Evaluation, Forecasting and Performance), this article examines the evolution of…

Situated theories of learning recognize the rules, tools, goals, and communities within which activities develop. Similarly, situated theories of epistemic cognition recognize that individuals' ideas about knowledge are tentative and dependent on particular contexts. In this study, we bring these frameworks together and qualitatively examine…

Recent publications have elevated the priority of increasing the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content for K-12 education. The STEM education community must invest in the development of valid and reliable to scales to measure STEM content, knowledge fusion, and perceptions of the nature of STEM. This brief…

This study presents the systematic development, validation, and use of a new instrument for measuring student interest in science and technology. The Student Interest in Technology and Science (SITS) survey is composed of 5 sub-sections assessing the following dimensions: interest in learning science, using technology to learn science, science…

There is widespread international concern about post-16 participation rates in science, with women's under-representation constituting a particular issue. This paper contributes to these debates through a novel, critical examination of the role of masculinity within boys' negotiations of science aspirations. Drawing on a UK longitudinal…

In this paper, we explore the details of one youth's science-related learning in- and out-of-school at the time of her participation in an ethnography of youth science and technology learning across contexts and over time. We use the Cultural Learning Pathways Framework to analyze the youth's interests, and the related sociocultural,…