ERIC Number: EJ1092552
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Feb
Pages: 32
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0002-8312
EISSN: N/A
Instruction and Students' Declining Interest in Science: An Analysis of German Fourth- and Sixth-Grade Classrooms
Tröbst, Steffen; Kleickmann, Thilo; Lange-Schubert, Kim; Rothkopf, Anne; Möller, Kornelia
American Educational Research Journal, v53 n1 p162-193 Feb 2016
Students' interest in science declines substantially in the transition from elementary to secondary education. Using students' ratings of their instruction on the topic of evaporation and condensation, we examined if changes in instructional practices accounted for differences in situational interest in science instruction and enduring individual interest in science between elementary and secondary school classrooms. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted for a sample of 60 fourth- and 54 sixth-grade classrooms. The use of student experiments, the elicitation of student explanations, and lack of clarity accounted to varying degrees for disparities in science interest between grade levels. The impact of instructional practices on individual interest was mediated by situational interest. This corroborated predictions of the person-object theory of interest.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Grade 4, Grade 6, Science Interests, Student Interests, Regression (Statistics), Instructional Effectiveness, Teaching Methods, Educational Practices, Science Instruction, Cultural Context, Institutional Characteristics, Likert Scales, Gender Differences, Science Achievement, Correlation, Physics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 4; Intermediate Grades; Elementary Education; Grade 6; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A