Effects of an Integrated Science and Societal Implication Intervention on Promoting Adolescents’ Positive Thinking and Emotional Perceptions in Learning Science

Abstract

The goal of this study was to test the effectiveness of integrating science and societal implication on adolescents’ positive thinking and emotional perceptions about learning science. Twenty-five eighth-grade Taiwanese adolescents (9 boys and 16 girls) volunteered to participate in a 12-week intervention and formed the experimental group. Fifty-seven eighth-grade Taiwanese adolescents (30 boys and 27 girls) volunteered to participate in the assessments and were used as the comparison group. Additionally, 15 experimental students were recruited to be observed and interviewed. Paired t-tests, correlations, and analyses of covariance assessed the similarity and differences between groups. The findings were that the experimental group significantly outperformed its counterpart on positive thinking and emotional perceptions, and all participants’ positive thinking scores were significantly related to their emotional perceptions about learning science. Recommendations for integrating science and societal implication for adolescents are provided.

Keywords:

• Integrating science and societal implication intervention
• Positive thinking
• Emotional perceptions
• Junior high school students
• Taiwan

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan NSC 98-2511-S-110-002-MY3. Special thanks go to the editor's thoughtful suggestions and anonymous reviewers’ constructive comments.