In this research, we have explored the possible differences in students' performance in grade nine chemistry exams that could have been influenced by a different instructional approach in grade eight. We compared two groups of students: one group had received a transmissive propaedeutic approach in grade eight (especially related to the memorising…

Secondary school students' early choices related to staying in the science track define their future decisions to choose chemistry at college. This investigation aims at analyzing the role of gender in students' causal attributions to choose or abandon chemistry when it first becomes optional in the Spanish educational system. Our analyses…

The present investigation aims to analyze the effect of motivation on students' causal attributions to choose or abandon chemistry when it first becomes optional in the secondary education curriculum in Spain. Attributions to the effect of the family and to the teacher and classroom methodology were found to be common predictors of the choice to…

The main goal of the present investigation was to analyze the effect of motivation towards physics & chemistry on achievement in secondary school students. We focused our interest on the comparison between students who chose the subject when becoming optional in the Spanish educational system and those who opted out. Our analyses uncovered the…

The present study aims to analyse the effect of motivational variables and previous academic achievement on students' future choice of chemistry once this subject becomes optional in the educational system. Toward this goal, the translation and adaptation of the Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQII) has been undertaken in our investigation…

This paper examines the process of high school students' planning investigations in the chemistry laboratory across two consecutive academic years in terms of their actions and their progress. The context is a set of five inquiry-based laboratory tasks in which participants (9th and 10th graders, 14-15 and 15-16 years of age) are required to plan…

Research in chemistry education has highlighted a number of variables that predict learning and performance, such as teacher-student interactions, academic motivation and metacognition. Most of this chemistry research has examined these variables by identifying dyadic relationships through bivariate correlations. The main purpose of this study was…

In microcomputer based laboratories (MBL) and data loggers, one or more sensors are connected to an interphase and this to a computer. This equipment allows visualization in real time of the variables of an experiment and provides the possibility of measuring magnitudes which are difficult to measure with traditional equipment. Research shows that…

This paper analyses the perceptions of a group of children aged between 9 and 11 that emerge when they imagine a chemical change and explain it through drawings. Our investigation stems from broader research at primary school level, aimed at developing children's capacities to model changes in the structure of materials through stimulating the use…