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Global Patterns in Students’ Views of Science and Interest in Science

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Abstract

International studies have shown that interest in science and technology among primary and secondary school students in Western European countries is low and seems to be decreasing. In many countries outside Europe, and especially in developing countries, interest in science and technology remains strong. As part of the large-scale European Union funded ‘Science Education for Diversity’ project, a questionnaire probing potential reasons for this difference was completed by students in the UK, Netherlands, Turkey, Lebanon, India and Malaysia. This questionnaire sought information about favourite courses, extracurricular activities and views on the nature of science. Over 9,000 students aged mainly between 10 and 14 years completed the questionnaire. Results revealed that students in countries outside Western Europe showed a greater interest in school science, in careers related to science and in extracurricular activities related to science than did Western European students. Non-European students were also more likely to hold an empiricist view of the nature of science and to believe that science can solve many problems faced by the world. Multilevel analysis revealed a strong correlation between interest in science and having such a view of the Nature of Science.

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Notes

  1. The term empiricist used here is almost interchangeable with the terms positivist and logicopositivist. Positivism and logicopositivism denote a more extreme position on the continuum and therefore have a negative connotation. Therefore, the more neutral term empiricist is used here. Empiricism does not only refer to the use of empiric evidence in science. In a similar way, the term relativism can be considered as a more extreme version of constructivism, which therefore also has a more negative connotation.

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Acknowledgments

This publication received funding from the European Union Science in Society Framework 7 Programme (FP7/2007/2013) under grant agreement 244717. We would like to thank the following people for collecting data and contributing to this research project: Roel Janssen, Huseyin Bag, Lindsay Hetherington, Alun Morgan, Keith Postlethwaite, Rupert Wegerif, Ng Swee Chin, Choy Siew Chee, Oo Pou San, Chin Fui Chung, Teh Lee Wah, Sugra Chunawala, Chitra Natarajan and Beena Choksi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eindhoven School of Education, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ 5612, Netherlands

    Ralf A. L. F. van Griethuijsen, Michiel W. van Eijck & Perry J. den Brok

  2. Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Helen Haste

  3. Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Nigel C. Skinner

  4. Faculty of Education, Pamukkale University, Çamlaraltı Mh. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Pk:20070, Denizli, Merkez/denizli, 20070, Turkey

    Nasser Mansour

  5. Center for Teaching and Learning & Science and Math Education Center, American University of Beirut, Cairo St, Beirut, Lebanon

    Ayse Savran Gencer & Saouma BouJaoude

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  1. Ralf A. L. F. van Griethuijsen
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  2. Michiel W. van Eijck
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  3. Helen Haste
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  5. Nigel C. Skinner
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  6. Nasser Mansour
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  7. Ayse Savran Gencer
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  8. Saouma BouJaoude
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Correspondence to Ralf A. L. F. van Griethuijsen.

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van Griethuijsen, R.A.L.F., van Eijck, M.W., Haste, H. et al. Global Patterns in Students’ Views of Science and Interest in Science. Res Sci Educ 45, 581–603 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-014-9438-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-014-9438-6

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