Patrice Potvin

Interest, motivation and attitude towards science and technology at K-12 levels: a systematic review of 12 years of educational research

The relationship that exists between students and science and technology (S&T) is a complex and important one. If it is positive, then social, economic and environmental consequences are to be expected. Yet, many problems of interest/motivation/attitude (I/M/A) towards S&T have been recorded. A lot of research has been conducted on this topic and a certain number of syntheses have been proposed, but very few of them have followed sufficiently systematic procedures. In this article, we offer a synthetic and systematic description of 228 research articles that were published between 2000 and 2012 and indexed in the ERIC database under I/M/A for S&T at K-12 levels. We focus on the origin of these articles, on the constructs they use and define, on the instruments, and finally on the results they provide, whether correlative or causal. Conclusions and recommendations for future research and interventions are formulated.

Is inhibition involved in overcoming a common physics misconception in mechanics

Abstract Science education is often challenged by students׳ misconceptions about various phenomena. Recent studies show that these misconceptions coexist with scientific conceptions, even after a conceptual change occurs. However, the mechanisms involve in overcoming the interference caused by this coexistence remain poorly understood. A possible explanation is that inhibition could play a role in learning science. An fMRI protocol was used to obtain functional brain images of novices and experts while performing a cognitive task in mechanics, a scientific discipline for which misconceptions are known to be frequent and persistent. The results show that experts, significantly more than novices, activate brain areas associated with inhibition: the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This suggests that the experts׳ misconceptions in mechanics have not been eradicated or transformed during learning; they would rather have remained encoded in their brain and were then inhibited to provide a correct answer.

Linking neuroscientific research on decision making to the educational context of novice students assigned to a multiple-choice scientific task involving common misconceptions about electrical circuits.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify the brain-based mechanisms of uncertainty and certainty associated with answers to multiple-choice questions involving common misconceptions about electric circuits. Twenty-two scientifically novice participants (humanities and arts college students) were asked, in an fMRI study, whether or not they thought the light bulbs in images presenting electric circuits were lighted up correctly, and if they were certain or uncertain of their answers. When participants reported that they were unsure of their responses, analyses revealed significant activations in brain areas typically involved in uncertainty (anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula cortex, and superior/dorsomedial frontal cortex) and in the left middle/superior temporal lobe. Certainty was associated with large bilateral activations in the occipital and parietal regions usually involved in visuospatial processing. Correct-and-certain answers were associated with activations that suggest a stronger mobilization of visual attention resources when compared to incorrect-and-certain answers. These findings provide insights into brain-based mechanisms of uncertainty that are activated when common misconceptions, identified as such by science education research literature, interfere in decision making in a school-like task. We also discuss the implications of these results from an educational perspective.

Portrait des différences entre les genres dans le contexte de l'apprentissage de l'électricité en fonction de la certitude exprimée lors de la production de réponses

RésuméCette recherche exploratoire poursuit l’objectif de décrire les évolutions de la «sensation de connaître» («feeling-of-knowing» [FOK]) lors d’apprentissages par la découverte de notions de base en électricité par des élèves du secondaire. L’analyse se concentre d’abord sur l’état initial des garçons et des filles en fonction de l’expérience préalable et de la perception qu’ils entretiennent de leurs capacités en sciences et technologie, puis sur l’évolution de la performance (i.e. les changements conceptuels effectués) et du FOK de ces mêmes groupes alors qu’ils vivent l’activité «les défis électroniques». Les résultats semblent indiquer que le traitement pédagogique utilisé ne produit pas de différences entre les genres en ce qui a trait aux apprentissages, mais qu’il favorise les garçons en ce qui concerne les certitudes qu’ils entretiennent quant aux réponses qu’ils fournissent.AbstractThis exploratory research aims to describe changes in the “feeling-of-knowing” (FOK) experienced by high school students who are being introduced to the fundamental concepts of electricity through learning by discovery. The analysis focuses first on the initial state of boys and girls in terms of their prior experience and the perception they have of their abilities in science and technology, then on the change in their performance (i.e. the conceptual shifts that take place) and the FOK of these same groups as they participate in “electronic problem-solving” activities. The results seem to indicate that this pedagogical approach produces the same results among both sexes in terms of learning acquisition, but favors boys in terms of the certainty they have of the solutions they provide.

Interest and Disinterest from College Students for Higher Education in Sciences

Although science plays an important role in society, a lack of interest of the youth for scientific studies is currently observed worldwide. Indeed, the proportion of science students in universities has been continuously decreasing for the last 15 years and an increasing gap is observed between the social demand and the scientific expertise. Several reasons influence the youth in their choice of program. Beyond personality and taste, factors related to interest for science can influence positively or negatively their enrollment in a college Science program. To bring to light the most striking factors, we questioned more than 1000 students of various pre-university college programs to probe their interest and motivation for sciences and to understand what had incited them to enroll in Sciences or not in college. We will present factors associated with the interest or the disinterest of students for higher education in sciences. We will consider the influence of faculty on students’ engagement, as well as self-efficacy, self-determination, amotivation and grade motivation.

Impact of Educational Video Game on Students’ Conceptions Related to Newtonian Mechanics

According to McGonagall (Reality is broken, why games make us better and how they can change the world. Penguin Press, 400 p, 2010), the average child in a country with a strong gamer culture will have spent 10,000 h playing online games by the age of 21, which is about the same amount of time spent in school. This gaming time is so huge that one can certainly ask if video games have a role to play in education. This research studies the impact of Mecanika, an educational video game about the principles of Newtonian mechanics. A total sample of 185 high school students was selected for the current study. Experimental group (N = 94) received the treatment through Mecanika, whereas the control group (N = 91) was selected to receive conventional instruction. Further, the students of control group played at Mecanika without any teacher assistance or instructions. The analysis of pretest and posttest scores of Force Concept Inventory (Hestenes et al., Phys Teacher 30:141–158, 1992) between both groups indicated that the experimental group’s students significantly outperformed the control group. On average, students of experimental group obtained a higher normalized gain (M = .10, SD = .02) than students of control group (M = .02, SD = .02). An independent samples t test indicated that the difference was significant t(183) = 3.81, p < .001 and of medium size effect (d = 0.6). The results from this first part of the experimentation reveal that Mecanika may be an effective way to improve conceptual change for Newtonian mechanics. In the second part of the experimentation, students of control group played at Mecanika but, unlike other group, didn’t benefit of any assistance. On average, students that have been playing at Mecanika by themselves obtained a comparable gain (M = .08, SD = .02) than students who received the support of their teacher and of the guidebooks (M = .10, SD = .02) in part one of the experimentation. The results showed that difference was not significant and did represent a negligible effect. It seems that most of the game’s potential to generate conceptual change comes with playing and not really with the integration in the verbal or written explanations in teacher’s setting. Encouragingly, it can be proposed that this genre of learning games may prove suitable for engaging students by themselves in active exploration of core science concepts. The Mecanika game is available freely at http://Mecanika.ca.