Decline in Interest in Biology among Elementary School Pupils During a Generation
Christoph Randler 1 * , Janina Osti 1, Eberhard Hummel 1
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1 University of Education in Heidelberg, GERMANY* Corresponding Author

Abstract

A decline in biology interest has often been claimed but seldom with an empirically substantiation. This study was based on a sample of 3rd and 4th grade pupils within the same geographical area as Löwe’s (1987, 1992) previous results from southwest Germany from the year 1983. We used a four-point Likert-type questionnaire to assess interest with 30 items (zoology, botany, human biology). Here we show for the first time, that elementary school pupils have lower interest in biology than one generation before. This decline between 1983 and 2011 was about 10%, with only 3% in zoology and 12% in botany. As interest is an important variable, programs should be developed to foster pupils’ interest already on the primary school level.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2012, Volume 8, Issue 3, 201-205

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2012.835a

Publication date: 12 Jan 2012

Article Views: 1931

Article Downloads: 867

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