Knowing more about things you care less about: Cross‐sectional analysis of the opposing trend and interplay between conceptual understanding and interest in secondary school chemistry

Abstract

The development of students' interest in school science activities, their understanding of central chemical concepts, and the interplay between both constructs across Grades 5–11 were analyzed in a cross‐sectional paper‐and‐pencil study (N = 2,510, mean age 11–17 years). Previous empirical findings indicate that students' knowledge increases over the time of secondary school while students' interest, especially in natural science subjects, tends to decrease. Concomitantly, there is evidence for an increase in the positive coupling between interest and knowledge across time. However, previous studies mainly rely on rather global measures, for example, school grades or general subject‐related interest, and focus on science as an integrated subject instead of specific disciplines, for example, chemistry. For this article, more proximal and differentiated measures for students' understanding of three chemical concepts (Chemical Reaction, Energy, Matter) and interest in seven dimensions of school science activities according to the RIASEC + N model (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional, and Networking; cf. Dierks, Höffler, & Parchmann, 2014) were applied. The results are in line with previous research indicating a general increase in conceptual understanding and a decline in students' interest for all school science activities. However, the interplay between conceptual understanding and interest differs across the seven dimensions. Interest in activities which are likely to promote cognitive activation (investigative, networking) or involving the communication of knowledge (social, enterprising, and networking) are increasingly connected to conceptual understanding, especially in upper secondary grades. Interest in guided hands‐on activities (realistic) which are typical in secondary science teaching, however, shows only small positive correlations to students' conceptual understanding across all grades. Hence, in upper‐secondary school, investigative, social, enterprising, and networking activities seem to provide opportunities to benefit most from the interrelation between students' interests and their understanding.

Conflicting Demands of Chemistry and Inclusive Teaching—A Video-Based Case Study

“…Interest in science as a school subject and in pursuing a career in related areas is consequently rather low [3]. The more students need to know about chemistry in their school career, the less they are interested in chemistry concepts [5]. To minimize these barriers in learning chemistry, chemistry education researchers developed several ideas on how to teach chemistry more student-centered, e.g., context-, inquiry-, problem-or project-based.…”

“…"The topics should be personally relevant to the student, stem from their living environment, and gain transparence through explaining them by scientific concepts" [6] (p. 140). Activities that are investigative, networking and social are recommended [5].…”

“…In this paper, that is based on [11], we show a teacher's difficulties in implementing inclusive practice while teaching chemistry. We conducted a video study at an inclusive middle school (grades [5][6][7][8] in Austria to reconstruct the challenges a chemistry teacher faces when teaching an abstract concept like the atomic structure at secondary level. At first, her teaching seems to be structured by traditional scientific educational approaches only.…”

A Microanalysis of Chemistry Lessons—Use and Perception of Triggers for Situational Interest

“…Auch bei einer nach typischen naturwissenschaftlichen Tätigkeiten (z. B. Experimente selber planen oder Fragestellungen in Kleingruppen bearbeiten) differenzierten Betrachtung ist ein Rückgang in verschiedenen Tätigkeitsdimensionen zu beobachten (Höft et al 2019). Aus entwicklungspsychologischer Sicht kann u. a. eine Interessensdifferenzierung im Verlauf der Pubertät bei den Lernenden eine Begründung sein (Schiefer et al 2018), allerdings ist das Interesse am Chemieunterricht im Vergleich zum Interesse an anderen Fächern geringer (Krapp und Prenzel 2011).…”

Global Trends in Practical Education Research 2019–2020: A Systematic Review

“…Manahanm, 2006;Marteel, 2014;Nehring, 2019;Short et al, 2019;Timmer et al, 2018;Skonchal, 2011;Esichaikul et al, 2011;Trybula et al,2009; .) (Georgia et al, 2019;Anderje et al, 2019;Ana et al, 2019;Bachtold et al, 2019;Matuk et al, 2019;Fiedler et al, 2019;Maja et al, 2019;Höft et al, 2019;leuchter & Naber, 2019;Gillespie & Rouse, 2019;Ryoo & Bedell, 2019;Ines, 2019;Elena et al, 2019;Baumflak et al, 2019;She et al, 2019;Curry et al, 2020;Vallera & Bodzin, 2020;Carigetal et al, 2019;Acar, 2019;Sondergeld et al, 2020;Redmond & Cutke, 2020;Lane et al, 2019;Hawley & Sinatra, 2019;Marco etal, 2020) • ‫مع‬ ‫مستخدمه‬ ‫املقارن‬ ‫الوصفي‬ ‫املنهج‬ ‫على‬ ‫اعتمدت‬ ‫اسات‬ ‫در‬ ‫امل‬ ANNOVA ‫القياس‬ ‫موضع‬ ‫املتغير‬ ‫في‬ ‫املتعددة‬ ‫املجموعات‬ ‫بين‬ ‫املتعددة‬ ‫للمقارنات‬ ، ‫ومن‬ ‫اسات:‬ ‫الدر‬ ‫تلك‬ ‫أمثلة‬ Bachtuld et al, 2019;Al-balushi & Martine et al, 2019;Cuzzolino et al, 2019;Plotz, 2019;Eames et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2020;Wikie et al, 2020;Adam, 2019;Hwang et al, 2020;…”