Middle school has been documented as the period in which a drop in students' science interest and achievement occurs. This trend indicates a lack of motivation for learning science; however, little is known about how different aspects of motivation interact with student engagement and science learning outcomes. This study examines the…

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…

There appears to be a complex network of cognitive and affective factors that influence students' decisions to study science and motivate their choices to engage in science-oriented careers. This study explored 330 Taiwanese senior high school students' awareness of their science teacher's learning leadership and how it relates to the students'…

This study explores the relationships among Taiwanese high school students' scientific epistemic beliefs (SEBs), conceptions of learning science (COLS), and motivation of learning science. The questionnaire responses from 470 high school students in Taiwan were gathered for analysis to explain these relationships. The structural equation modeling…

We investigated students' perceptions related to psychological constructs in their science classes and the influence of these perceptions on their science identification and science career goals. Participants included 575 middle school students from two countries (334 students in the U.S. and 241 students in Iceland). Students completed a…

Sex is considered to be one of the most significant factors influencing attitudes towards science. However, the so-called brain type approach from cognitive science suggests that the difference in motivation to learn science does not primarily differentiate the girls from the boys, but rather the so-called systemisers from the empathizers. The…

In this paper, we examine the nature of interest in science as represented in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 data. We discuss the interconnections between measures of knowledge, affect, and value as components of interest in science. Working from a perspective acknowledging that many of the models of motivation…