Pixel International Conferences

Students’ declining interest in science has been internationally problematic especially in the developed countries (e.g., Braund & Reiss, 2006; Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003; NIER, 2016). Despite efforts to attract students to science learning, this problem called swing away from science remains unsolved. However, few studies examined how students’ science interests fluctuated toward disliking of science in Japan with a fine-grained qualitative method (Naganuma, in press). This qualitative study investigated the processes of swing away from science. Total 22 freshman and sophomore students in a public university participated in a small group interview (3-4 participants at once), describing how they came to dislike science in their life. Data sources included their interview data and written paper about their life event related to their attitude toward science. Grounded Theory Approach was used to code the qualitative data. Our analysis found four direct factors that influenced interest in science: comprehension, hands-on activity, teachers’ personality, and perceived relevance of science. Poor comprehension was brought by low teaching quality, low learning quality and contents’ nature (large amount of rote learning, low visibility, and much mathematical operation). Absence of hands-on activity not only directly but also indirectly influenced interest in science negatively by depriving learners’ opportunities to understand abstract science concepts. Teachers’ worse personality influenced interest in science both directly and indirectly since it discouraged learner’ active attitude toward learning science, which in turn led to low comprehension.  Additionally, perceived irrelevance of science topics decreased interest in science directly. These results highlight the importance of 1) hands-on activities for students’ understanding of abstract science concepts and 2) teachers’ personality to encourage students for science learning.

Keywords: swing away from Science, Science interest, focus group, Grounded Theory approach.

References:

• Braund, M., & Reiss, M. (2006). Towards a More Authentic Science Curriculum: The Contribution of Out-Of-School Learning. International Journal of Science Education, 28(12), 1373 – 1388.
• Osborne, J., Simon, S., & Collins, S. (2003). Attitudes towards Science: A Review of the Literature and Its Implications. International Journal of Science Education, 25(9), 1049 – 1079.
• National Institution of Educational Research (2016). Knowledge and Skills for Life. Akashi Shoten (in Japanese).
• Naganuma, S. (in press). Critical Review of “Swing away from Science” Literatures’ Research Methodology: On J-STAGE Articles Published in the Last 50 Years. Journal of Science Education in Japan (in Japanese).