Students losing interest in science
Updated on 08 September 2008
Children are losing interest in science as they progress through school, new research suggests.
A poll of 4,000 children aged nine to 14 found that youngsters find the subject less inspiring and relevant to their lives as they move from primary to secondary school.
While 47% of nine-year-olds said they enjoy science because they can use the things they learn in everyday life, this drops to 38% among 12-year-olds and 34% among 14-year-olds.
Science lessons are inspiring to 42% of nine-year-olds, compared to 38% of 12-year-olds and 35% of 14-year-olds.
And more than half (51%) of nine-year-olds enjoy the subject because they do lots of practical work, while 45% of 14-year-olds said the same.
The study was commissioned by Shell UK to look to when and why children are turned off science.
It concludes that: "Children at 14 years old see less relevance of science to the real world, find it less inspiring, enjoy less practical work and feel they have less opportunity to use their imagination."
It notes that there are several reasons for a fall in popularity of the science including "a curriculum that is often perceived by students as being too theoretical and not relevant", "a poor understanding of the options offered by science-based careers in both students and some teachers" and a shortage of specialist science teachers in secondary schools.
The Learning to Love Science report noted that many schoolchildren were unaware of many famous scientific figures.
More than three quarters (76%) failed to identify Marie Curie, more than half (53%) didn't know who Alexander Graham Bell was and 69% couldn't identify James Dyson.
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