This study explores how often students are engaged in their science classes and their affective states during these times, using an innovative methodology that records these experiences "in situ". Sampling a subset of high schools in the U.S. and Finland, we collected over 7,000 momentary responses from 344 students over the course of a…

A theoretical model of nonscience majors' motivation to learn science was tested by surveying 369 students in a large-enrollment college science course that satisfies a core curriculum requirement. Based on a social-cognitive framework, motivation to learn science was conceptualized as having both cognitive and affective influences that foster…

This study has two purposes: (a) methodological--to design and test a new instrument able to reflect changes in attitudes toward science over time, and (b) investigative--to find out the effect of two similar curricular treatments on the attitudes of two classes. Items about the relevance of science to students' lives were developed,…