The Role of Emotional Factors in Building Public Scientific Literacy and Engagement with Science

Abstract

This study uses the database from an extensive international study on 15-year-old students (N = 8,815) to analyze the relationship between emotional factors and students' scientific literacy and explore the potential link between the emotions of the students and subsequent public engagement with science. The results revealed that students' scientific literacy is significantly correlated with their interest, enjoyment, and engagement in science learning (p < 0.001). The groups of students with high levels of emotional factors outperform their medium- and low-level counterparts in scientific literacy. Additional comparisons of emotions during science learning between these students and the adult population from another study indicate a number of similarities with the exception that the adults are more involved in learning science through television. It is suggested that improving the emotions that current students experience when learning science is more likely to enhance future public engagement in science-related issues.

Keywords:

• Emotional factors
• Scientific literacy
• Public engagement
• Interest in science
• Enjoyment of learning

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, under grant NSC 95-2522-S-026-002. Special thanks to the research assistants, teachers, and students who have been very supportive to this study.