Attitudes Toward Science: Getting Students Engaged

Abstract

It is a teacher’s responsibility to deliver content and compel the students to learn, so how can teachers get students more excited about science? The purpose of this research is to understand what students enjoy about science and what may help to get them more engaged. First, students were asked to complete a twenty question survey using a response scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Then, students and teachers were asked a series of interview questions that reflected their feelings about science. By collecting the student and teacher responses, I found that active, hands-on learning is what students enjoy the most and what teachers generally feel keeps the students more engaged. The hands-on learning that students value most is active lab work, as well as group work or activities. I also found that teachers enjoyed this as well, since more of the learning can take place with peers and teacher assistance, versus just lecture and note taking by the teacher.