Undersökande arbetssätt om aktuella frågor - en medicin som ger motiverade elever?

Abstract

A problem which I have encountered is that many students are not interested or motivated by the school’s science. To stimulate motivation for science is one of my greatest challenges as a science teacher. The aim of this study was to investigate if inquiry- and context-based teaching can increase students’ motivation for science. In inquiry-based teaching, students are engaged in research inquiries by asking questions, planning and doing experiments, interpreting data and communicate their findings. By doing this, students will become more motivated and attain a deeper understanding of the nature of science (Driver et al., 1996). With context-based teaching, the topics which are addressed will have relevance for the students and/or the society. These topics may be socio-scientific issues, where the students use science while discussing and debating controversial subjects (Ekborg et al., 2013). Such questions are more likely to be meaningful, relevant and motivating for students. The study was conducted using questionnaires, in which the students answered to what extend they agreed or disagreed to a set of statements. The statements addressed students’ experiences of their science lessons. A total of 10 secondary school students (4 girls and 6 boys in year 8) participated in the study. Three different topics were addressed and evaluated; antibiotics, chemicals in the environment and microplasics. All these issues have been frequently appearing in Swedish media recently and have huge importance for people, environment and society. Further, the responses from these experimental lessons were compared to an ordinary science lesson. The results showed that inquiry-based teaching was perceived as positive by the students and suggests an increased interest in science. These findings are corroborated by previous studies (e.g. Chen & Cowie, 2013; Seraphin et al., 2013). The small sample size makes it hard to conclude more with certainty, but there are several tendencies, e.g. indicating positive influences on curiosity and critical thinking. Thus, there are still several questions which merit further research in this area. Especially the long term effects on motivation and interest, as well as the students’ ability to use their knowledge in other contexts or questions