“Inspire me” - High-ability students’ perceptions of school science

Abstract

A decline in the number of students opting to study science in high school is a matter of international concern, particularly in relation to students who demonstrate high academic ability in science. These high-ability students have the potential to be the innovators and leaders of the future. There is a paucity of research that provides insight into how schools address the motivational and learning needs of high-ability science students. Underpinned by a constructivist view of learning, this exploratory case study research used student questionnaires and focus group interviews to explore students’ views about their learning experiences in science. It investigated high-ability students’ perceptions of how their needs were being met. Findings indicate that these students generally experienced a wide range of teaching approaches across all science disciplines. Learning was mostly limited to science content and procedures with little evidence of students learning about how science works through Nature of Science.

Learning Outcomes of the Inquiry-in-Action Model for Chemistry Experimentation

“…The higher attitude scores in preferences, behavior, and anxiety among the experimental group indicate that students enjoyed performing the experiments but still had concerns about safety and security. This observation is consistent with previous studies by George-Williams et al (2018); Henige (2011), and Horsley and Moeed (2018), which also found that students were enthusiastic about participating in learning activities. The present study, which used a scale containing only positively worded items, demonstrated that learners' fear of the laboratory environment decreased over time.…”

“…Regarding attitudes toward science, the findings of this study are in line with the results of previous research (George-Williams et al, 2018;Henige, 2011;Horsley & Moeed, 2018;Nedungadi et al, 2015), although a study by Montes et al (2018) found some students to be apprehensive in their attitudes. Furthermore, previous research has demonstrated the enhancement of science inquiry process skills (Hardianti & Kuswanto, 2017;Ogan-Bekiroğlu & Arslan, 2014;Pulungan et al, 2021;Sahintepe et al, 2020).…”

Students’ Opinions, Views, and Perceptions of Science Laboratory Learning: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…The impact of the laboratory experiments also translated into affective attributes as students indicated that they enjoyed the experiments (George-Williams et al, 2018;Henige, 2011;Horsley & Moeed, 2018), and became motivated and acquired attitudinal change towards science (Chatterjee et al, 2009;Tartar, 2012;Uyulgan & Akkuzu, 2018;Wright, 2012). Students liked the station-based teaching approach because it made learning less stressful and made shy students more comfortable to ask questions (Goldina & Baratinni, 2018).…”