Student experience and interest in science: Connections and relations with further education

Abstract

Students’ problems with learning science in school are well documented. Earlier studies report on differences in students’ interest in and attitudes towards science due to gender and age. However, fewer studies have focused on relations with experience and recruitment on a detailed content level. Present paper presents a statistical analysis of student interest in specific content areas and combines this with student experience of science and science-related activities outside school. The result shows that patterns of interest and experience can be identified. These patterns showed differences in gender and also relate to student preferences of upper secondary education. The results are presented on both a detailed content and an experience level. The results are discussed in relation to the purpose of compulsory science education. The study contributes to the discussion about a more relevant science education by presenting concrete content and experience dimensions from a student perspective.

Keywords

• Students’ interest
• experience
• science
• PCA
• cluster analysis