“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.

Keywords

• high-ability students
• science
• learning
• acceleration
• choice