This study investigates the predictive influences of expectancies and values that may sustain students' dropout intentions in physics as well as gender differences in students' motivation and intention. Eccles's expectancy-value model was used to frame the study. The academic self-concept (expectancy component) and value components focusing on…

When it comes to biology lessons in Germany, girls generally exhibit higher levels of self-determined motivation than boys. Previous research suggests that fostering student autonomy could be a way to effectively address this gender gap. To investigate gender-related effects in biology education, a sample of 303 sixth-grade students (M[subscript…

Texts and instructional pictures are widely used for facilitating students' understanding of complex content, especially in science subjects. International large-scale assessments repeatedly reveal differences in students' science achievement between countries. Since text-picture material (TPM) plays an essential role in science education, it is…

Students' interest is considered an important learning outcome, but it is also a relevant predictor for student learning, and future vocational choices. According to numerous studies, however, students' interest in STEM fields usually declines during the course of secondary education. From the perspective of science education, it is therefore…

For biology students, the diversity, complexity, and abundance of content in this field yield a heavy study load. Hence, appropriate learning strategies are key in supporting learners' academic success. In biology, the factors gender and interest hold a unique position within the natural sciences, as there is an academic imbalance to the…

Learning Analytics are an academic field with promising usage scenarios for many educational domains. At the same time, learning analytics come with threats such as the amplification of historically grown inequalities. A range of general guidelines for more equity-focused learning analytics have been proposed but fail to provide sufficiently clear…

Based on the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the study examines elementary school students' science performance and control-value beliefs (self-concept, intrinsic and achievement value) as antecedents of their cognitive (worry) and affective (nervousness) science anxiety. Performance in the science topic "floating and…

Previous studies show that girls have a lower scientific self-concept than boys. Since interest starts declining over the course of lower secondary school, this exacerbates the issue that fewer girls aspire to choose a scientific profession. In this article, we present the concept of scientific profile classes. Profile classes pursue the goal of…

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether parents' utility value perceptions predicted their children's utility value perceptions, demonstrating social contagion effects. We also examined whether utility value would predict achievement. This is a cross-sectional study that utilized data from a subsample of adolescent students from…

Studies have shown the potential of explainer videos. An alternative is a written explanation, as found in science textbooks. Prior research suggests that instructional explanations sometimes lead to the belief that a topic has been fully understood, even though that is, not the case. This 'illusion of understanding' may be affected by the medium…

The present study investigated whether an autonomy-supportive intervention influenced students' need satisfaction, achievement emotions, and strategies of self-regulated learning differently depending on several student characteristics. The study was conducted with a sample of 345 9th-grade students in 17 physics classrooms who were randomly…

In recent decades, several countries have made an effort to increase the enrollment rates and performance of students in science and mathematics by means of mandatory, rigorous course work, which is often referred to as curricular intensification (CI). However, there is a lack of research on intended and unintended effects of CI reforms on…

Argumentation is considered crucial in numerous disciplines. However, it is unclear whether argumentation is understood in comparable ways across disciplines. This study examined how students perceive argumentation in science and language lessons, and investigated beliefs about the relevance of discourse and facts. Data from 3,258 high school…

During the last 10 years, outreach science laboratories have become increasingly popular due to resource and time limitations in schools. Outreach laboratories offer hands-on projects in a situated and authentic learning setting, thereby promoting the development of students' scientific literacy. However, students' cognitive achievement within…

To monitor science motivation, 232 tenth graders of the college preparatory level ("Gymnasium") completed the Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ-II). Additionally, personality data were collected using a 10-item version of the Big Five Inventory. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis based on the eigenvalue-greater-than-one…