Promoting Interest and Performance in High School Science Classes

Abstract

For the Love of Science: Which is a better predictor of a student's continued participation in science, facile understanding or personal interest? Hulleman and Harackiewicz (p. 1410 ) designed an experiment to find out what drives high-school students. First-year high-school students were asked either to write about what they had just learned or about how what they had just learned connected to some facet of their personal lives. Connections of personal relevance were stronger than good grades for predicting interest in further science courses and future science careers. This low-cost intervention seemed to have its largest effect on students who began the class with the least amount of confidence in their abilities.