The authors' aim was to determine the extent to which error detection contributes to the explanation of a cognitive and motivational model of student performance in an assessment test. A total of 151 science students of secondary education participated in the investigation. Two causal models were developed using a structural equation analysis.…

For students to be successful in school chemistry, a strong sense of self-efficacy is essential. Chemistry self-efficacy can be defined as students' beliefs about the extent to which they are capable of performing specific chemistry tasks. According to Bandura ("Psychol. Rev." 84:191-215, 1977), students acquire information about their…

Grounded in the expectancy-value and hope theories, the present study was conducted to examine the extent to which self-efficacy, task value, and academic hope predict persistence among science teacher-trainees in Uganda. The sample consisted of 278 undergraduate science teacher-trainees selected from a large public university in northern Uganda.…

This paper examines students' achievement and interest and the extent to which they are predicted by teacher knowledge and motivation. Student achievement and interest are both considered desirable outcomes of school instruction. Teacher pedagogical content knowledge has been identified a major predictor of student achievement in previous…

Curiosity is fundamental to scientific inquiry and pursuance. Parents are important in encouraging children's involvement in science. This longitudinal study examined pathways from parental stimulation of children's curiosity per se to their science acquisition (SA). A latent variable of SA was indicated by the inter-related variables of high…

This study showcases the Science for Citizenship Model (SCM) as a new instructional methodology for presenting, to secondary students, science-related technology content related to the use of science in society not taught in the science curriculum, and a new approach for assessing the intercorrelations among three independent variables (benefits,…

Teachers make a difference for the outcome of their students in science classrooms. One focus in this context lies on teachers' professional knowledge. We describe this knowledge according to three domains, namely (1) content knowledge (CK), (2) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and (3) curricular knowledge (CuK). We hypothesise a positive…

In this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to an instrument assessing students' understanding of chemical change. The instrument comprised items on understanding the structure of substances, chemical changes and their interpretation. The structural relationships among particular groups of items are investigated and analyzed using…

We use data from a randomized controlled trial of a middle school science intervention to explore the causal mechanisms by which the intervention produced previously documented gains in student achievement. Our study finds that implementation fidelity, operationalized as a measure of the frequency of implementation of the cognitive science…

This study investigates the effect of physics education on students' achievement in a large-scale quantitative study of pre-academic high school students throughout the Netherlands. Two aspects of teacher characteristics as perceived by their students are included: "pleasantness" principally defined by their perceived friendliness and…

This study examines students' understanding of the normative connections between key concepts of cell division, including both mitosis and meiosis, and underlying biological principles that are critical for an in-depth understanding of genetic inheritance. Using a structural equation modeling method, we examine middle school students'…

In this study, a theoretical model is tested to examine factors shaping the decision to pursue STEM fields of study among students entering community colleges and four-year institutions, based on a nationally representative sample of high school graduates from 2004. Applying the social cognitive career theory and multi-group structural equation…

The present study is based on the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory of cognitive science. It was hypothesized that the influence of students' gender on their motivation to learn science is often overestimated in the research literature and that cognitive style is more important for motivation than students' gender. By using structural equation…

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the science success regression levels of chosen emotional features of 8th grade students using Structural Equation Model. The study was conducted by the analysis of students' questionnaires and science success in TIMSS 2011 data using SEM. Initially, the factors that are thought to have an effect on science…

This study draws upon social cognitive career theory and higher education literature to propose and test a conceptual framework for understanding the selection of postsecondary STEM fields of study by recent high school graduates who attend four-year institutions. Results suggest that high school math achievement, exposure to math and science…