Factors-Affecting-Junior-High-School-Students-Inte

JournalofScienceEducationandTechnology,Vol.15,No.1,March2006(C
2006)FactorsAffectingJuniorHighSchoolStudents’InterestinPhysics1RicardoTrumper2,3Wereporttheresultsofastudyonstudents’interestinphysicsattheendoftheircompul-soryschoolinginIsraelcarriedoutintheframeworkoftheROSEProject.Factorsstudiedweretheiropinionsaboutscienceclasses,theirout-of-schoolexperiencesinphysics,andtheirattitudestowardscienceandtechnology.Students’overallinterestinphysicswas“neutral”(neitherpositivenornegative),withboysshowingahigherinterestthangirls.Wefoundastrongcorrelationbetweenstudents’“neutral”interestinphysicsandtheirnegativeopin-ionsaboutscienceclasses.ThesefindingsraiseseriousquestionsabouttheimplementationofchangesmadeintheIsraelisciencecurriculuminprimaryandjuniorhighschool,especiallyifthegoalistopreparetheyounggenerationforlifeinascientific-technologicalera.Amorein-depthanalysisoftheresultsledustoformulatecurricular,behavioral,andorganizationalchangesneededtoreachthisgoal.KEYWORDS:interest;juniorhighschoolstudents;physics.INTRODUCTIONAsnotedbyOsborneetal.(2003),“theinves-tigationofstudents’attitudestowardsstudyingsci-encehasbeenasubstantivefeatureoftheworkofthescienceeducationresearchcommunityforthepast30–40years”(p.1049).Itsimportanceisempha-sizedbyapersistentdeclineinpost-compulsoryhighschoolscienceenrollmentoverthelasttwodecadeswhichhasgeneratedconcerninmanycountries,includingtheUK(SmithersandRobinson,1988),Australia(DekkersandDeLaeter,2001),Canada(Bordtetal.,2001),India(GargandGupta,2003),Japan(Goto,2001),theUnitedStates(NationalSci-1ROSE(TheRelevanceofScienceEducation)isaninternationalprojectwithabout40participatingcountries.ROSEisorganizedbySveinSjobergandCamillaSchreineratTheUniversityofOsloandissupportedbytheResearchCouncilofNorway.Reportsanddetailsareavailableat:[e-mail]3Presentaddress:KibbutzHahoterim,DoarNaHofHacarmel30870,Israel.enceFoundation,2002),andeverycountryintheEu-ropeanUnion(CommissionofEuropeanCommuni-ties,2001).Students’increasingreluctancetochoosesciencecourses,andphysicalsciencecoursesinpar-ticular,intheirfinalyearsofsecondaryeducationhasimportantimplicationsnotonlyforthecontinu-ityofscientificendeavorbutalsoforthescientificliteracyoffuturegenerations.Asaresult,develop-mentofpositiveattitudestowardsscience,scientists,andlearningscience,whichhasalwaysbeenaconstit-uentofscienceeducation,isincreasinglyasubjectofconcern.Manyscienceeducatorsattributegreatimpor-tancetotheaffectivedomain(BakerandDoran,1975;Gardner,1985,1998;OhandYager,2004;Schibeci,1984;Sjoberg,2002).ShulmanandTamir(1973)arguedthattheaffectiveoutcomesofscienceinstructionareatleastasimportantastheircogni-tivecounterparts.Theaffectivedomainischarac-terizedbyavarietyofconstructssuchasattitudes,preferences,andinterests.Differentresearchers’def-initionsoftheseconstructsvaryandconsequentlymaybeconfusing.Asreportedextensivelyinthelit-erature,students’originallypositiveattitudestoward471059-0145/06/0300-0047/0C
2006SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,Inc.DOI:10.1007/s10956-006-0355-648Trumpersciencesubjectschangemarkedlyintheuppergrades,especiallyinchemistryandphysics(Graber,1993).Simpsonetal.(1994)publishedanextensivereviewofstudents’attitudestowarddifferentsci-encesubjects.Generally,anegativeattitudetowardagivensubjectleadstolackofinterestand,whensubjectscanbeselected,asinseniorhighschool,toavoidingthesubjectorcourse.Furthermore,aposi-tiveattitudetowardscience“leadstoapositivecom-mitmenttosciencethatinfluenceslifelonginterestandlearninginscience”(SimpsonandOliver,1990,p.14).Thisisonereasonwhymajorscienceedu-cationreformeffortshaveemphasizedtheimprove-mentofstudents’attitudes.Forinstance,Project2061,amultiple-yearprojectinscienceeducation,suggeststhat“scienceeducationshouldcontributeto...thedevelopmentinyoungpeopleofpositiveat-titudestowardlearningscience”(AmericanAssocia-tionfortheAdvancementofScience,1990,p.184).Severalstudieshaveidentifiedanumberoffac-torsaffectingstudents’attitudestowardsscienceingeneral.Thesecanbelargelycategorizedasgender,personalitytraits,structuralvariables,andcurricu-lumvariables.Ofthese,themostsignificantisgen-derfor,asGardner(1975)stated“sexisprobablythemostimportantvariablerelatedtopupils’atti-tudestoscience”(p.22).Manystudies(e.g.,FrancisandGreer,1999;Jonesetal.,2000;Menis,1983;Sjoberg,1983,2000a,b;Weinburgh,1995)havere-portedthatmaleshavemorepositiveattitudesto-wardsciencethanfemales,whileothersfoundnostatisticallysignificantgenderdifferences(SelimandShrigley,1983).KahleandMeece(1994)publishedawide-rangingreviewofthegenderissuesrelatedtostudents’attitudestosciencesubjects.OrmerodandDuckworth(1975)indicatedtheimportanceofdistinguishingbetweenthephysicalandbiologicalsciencesinrespectofgenderdifferencesinattitudestowardscience.Gardner(1974),inareviewofthere-lationbetweengenderdifferencesandachievement,attitudes,andsomepersonalitytraitsofsciencestu-dents,statedthatthereare“cleardifferences