On their own terms? Opening up senior science learning for non-specialist science students

ABSTRACT

The ability to understand science is important for productive participation in societies that rely on scientific knowledge to guide decision-making. A challenge is how to motivate and engage all learners in science, and not just those destined for science-related careers. This challenge becomes more acute in senior secondary high-stakes assessment contexts where science traditionally becomes discipline-based and optional. The New Zealand framework curriculum and modular credit-based secondary exit qualification introduces systems-level flexibilities that support the offering of learning choices that can take science on a track different to conventional discipline-based courses. This article reports on findings of an eight-month study involving three cycles of collaborative action research with a Year 12 science class. We describe and analyse students’ experiences when a teacher opened learning choices using different types of science inquiry in a new General Science course. Students were working on the New Zealand senior secondary exit qualification. Findings show how students can respond to different levels of choice to learn and achieve more on their own terms. While tensions and cautionary notes are floated, findings demonstrate how offering flexibility and choice to non-specialist science students can make science more accessible by responding to diverse learning motivations and interests.

KEYWORDS:

• Senior secondary science participation
• high stakes assessment
• learning choices

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank the teacher and senior science students who participated in this research and who so generously shared their thoughts and experiences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The study was approved 13 May 2016 by the University of Waikato Human Participants Ethics Committee (reference number FEDU035/16).

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted with the support of a University of Waikato Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research Doctoral Scholarship.