The purpose of this research study was to investigate student interest in learning science and pursuing STEM careers in order to make effective changes at the local level through the implementation of a STEM Career Project that focused on creating student awareness of science- related careers. The research questions that guided the study provided the framework that led to the choice of methods used to collect this data.
Research Questions
The overarching research question for the study: Do theories about interest apply to the learning of science and pursuit of STEM careers in a suburban high school?
The subsumed questions: Phase I:
1. What are 10th-grade high school students’ perceptions of their interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career? (Quantitative and Qualitative)
2. What are 10th-grade high school teachers’ perceptions of their students’ interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career? (Qualitative)
Phase II:
3. Does the intervention of a STEM Career Project influence student interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career? (Quantitative and Qualitative)
Research Design
Action research is a form of inquiry that enables educators to explore, understand, and reflect upon their environment and praxis in order to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. It is research by practitioners for practitioners that can provide valuable insights into how to improve the quality of education locally. In this climate of accountability, action
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research provides a method of self-monitoring as means of justifying practices and as a workable approach to improvement through action and self-reflection (Carr & Kemmis, 1983). This form of research provides a way to critically assess the local condition, create a an action plan to address the situation, evaluate the plan’s effectiveness, reflect upon the outcome, and repeat the cycle in order to develop effective measures that improve the learning environment and teacher praxis.
This action research study sought to understand how to increase student interest in learning science. It was designed to describe how certain instructional and associated learning strategies support the development of students’ situational interest. The study was conducted from the perspectives of 10th-grade science students and 10th-grade science teachers at one suburban high school. The research design used a sequential multiphase approach (see Figure 3, p. 66). Phase I took an exploratory approach to ascertain students’ perceptions about learning science and choosing a science-related career through a Student Science Survey. Interviews with eleven 10th-grade students in different course levels and eight 10th-grade science teachers were conducted to further understand the perceptions of student interest in learning science at the site. Phase I began with the administration of the Student Science Survey using selected questions from the PISA 2006 Student Questionnaire. The PISA questionnaire was selected as the vehicle for data collection because it was designed to specifically address students aged 15-to-16 years of age corresponding to U.S. 10th-grade high school students. The questionnaire uses the interest construct as defined in both POI and the 4-phase model of interest development as the specific relationship between an individual and the domain of interest which in this case is science. The questionnaire was created by an international consortium of educational experts and has been validated and field tested. The quantitative data collected from the survey helped
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in the development of the interview questions for both participant groups by enabling the researcher to probe deeper into understanding the condition of student interest in learning or pursuing science at this site (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2011; Collins, 2010; Onwuegbuzie & Collins, 2007; Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009). Student interview questions delved further into students’ learning experiences by uncovering information about 1) the types of teaching and learning that they find increase their interest in science, 2) their favorite science teacher, 3) their ideas for increasing interest in science learning, 4) their views on science, and 5) their views on science as a potential career. Teacher interviews addressed the current teaching and learning that occurs in the classroom, how teachers can increase student interest in learning science, and how to encourage students to enter STEM fields. Phase I served as a needs assessment in order to identify the current situation of teaching and learning in the classroom at the site in order to make effective changes that increase student interest in learning science and pursuing science as a career. Data collected in Phase I and from the pilot study indicated that students are not informed about science-related careers and are unaware of the variety and possibilities that these careers can offer. The STEM Career Project intervention was created to provide students the opportunity to explore STEM careers. Phase II used action research to test the effectiveness of this specifically designed STEM Career Project to determine its success in influencing students’ interests in pursuing science. Phase II was completed in two iterations. The first iteration was implemented by the researcher with four 10th-grade chemistry classes. The second iteration was carried out by three 10th-grade science teachers teaching different academic levels of chemistry. Data sources used in the first iteration were student reflections, a post-STEM Career Project survey, and project evaluation using a specifically formulated rubric. This information, as well as, the teacher/researcher reflection was used to make improvements and modifications to the
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project for the next action research cycle, Iteration 2. The teachers’ experiences with the project were documented through interviews and their insights and recommendations will be used to further refine the STEM Career Project. The second iteration created multiple cases of the intervention providing evidence to support the ability of the project to influence student interest in pursuing a STEM career and feedback for further procedural refinements. Using multiple cases also served to increase the validity and credibility of the intervention (Yin, 2014).
Person-object interest theory (POI) and Hidi and Renninger’s 4-phase model served to define the construct of interest, phases of interest, and as a contextual guide to provide a broad explanation of student interest in science. In addition it served as a model to interpret and examine the factors that affect the development of student interest for this case study. Theory provides a blueprint for the research design and guides the decisions in determining the data collected and the strategies for analysis (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2011; Yin, 2014). Interest is the development of a relationship with a specific object, activity or domain of learning that engages an individual cognitively and affectively driving the individual to continuously reengage with the object, activity, or in this research, science learning (Dewey, 1913; Krapp, 2002, 2005; Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Schiefele et al., 1983; Silvia, 2005, 2008). How interest develops within each individual is deeply personal and is impacted by both internal (individual interest) and external factors (situational interest) (Hidi et al., 2004; Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Krapp, 2002; Renninger & Hidi, 2002). In order to create a learning experience that can work to cultivate the relationship between students and their learning and pursuing of science, it was necessary to capture student perceptions and the perceptions of their teachers as both play roles in developing the components of situational and individual interest (Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Turner, Kackar-Cam, & Trucano, 2015). The survey provided an overall snapshot of student
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interest in learning and pursuing science but the student and teacher interviews provided a deeper and more descriptive layer of knowledge concerning how to improve and increase interest in order to create a more enduring relationship between students and their interest in learning science. The STEM Career intervention was guided by the principles of POI and the 4-phase model of interest development that state interest develops through the acquisition of new knowledge that is personally relevant (Durik, Hulleman, & Harackiewicz, 2015; Hidi &
Renninger, 2006; Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009; Krapp, 2005; Schiefele et al., 1983). In this project students explored STEM careers that were of interest to them thereby acquiring new knowledge that is personally relevant.
In order to institute effective change, understanding of the current situation was necessary. This case study provided a depth of understanding of student interest in science in order to create a classroom environment that stimulates situational interest and is specific to the local conditions. The design of the study incorporated two phases and several methods for the purpose of providing a depth of knowledge and information regarding how to make learning science more interesting for students. Using a multi-step design provided a stronger array of evidence than could be accomplished by a single method alone and afforded a better opportunity to assess the “goodness” of the data (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009; Yin, 2014). This research provided specific and applicable information from which to draw conclusions and institute effective local improvements. It also provided information for the improvement of teacher praxis. The rationale for using multiple forms of quantitative and qualitative data was to provide significant enhancement in order to maximize the interpretation of the findings (Leech &
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Phase I: Exploratory Data Collection Data Source
Quantitative Data Collection Implementation of Student Science Survey (N=270)
Validated and tested instrument. Excerpted from PISA 2006 Student Science Questionnaire. Specific for Grade 10 students. Quantitative Data Analysis Descriptive Statistics Demographic data. Interest
Data. Provides information for question development of qualitative strand and development of instructional intervention.
Case Selection (Students) Nested sample from larger convenience sample of Grade 10 students.
Cases (N=11)
Development of semi-structured interview questions.
Case Selection (Teachers) Convenience and purposeful sample of Grade 10 teachers.
Cases (N=8)
Qualitative Data Collection Individual in-depth one-on-one interviews. Interviews are audiotaped and transcribed.
Text data from transcriptions.
Qualitative Data Analysis Coding for themes. Cross case analysis.
Codes and themes. Cross case thematic matrix.
Phase II: Action Research-Iteration 1
Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection
Instructional Intervention- Implementation of STEM Career Project as a method to create classroom situational interest.
Convenience and purposeful selection. Researcher’s students (sample from larger Grade 10 student population). (N=76)
STEM Career Project. Student reflections of project. Student data from post-STEM survey. Researcher reflection.
Qualitative Data Analysis Coding for themes. Codes and themes to identify influence of instructional learning strategy (situational interest) on student interest in learning or pursuing science.
Iteration 2: Action Research
STEM Career Project 2nd Cycle. Intervention implemented by three 10th Grade teachers.
Student reflections and post- STEM surveys. Teacher A (N=63); Teacher B (N=88); Teacher C (N=36).
Feedback from teachers addressed implementation and influence of intervention on student interest in learning or pursuing science.
Figure 3. An overview of the study design including Phases I and II, data collection/measures, and data sources.
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Role of the researcher. The role of the researcher in this study was both emic and etic. In Phase I, the exploratory phase, the researcher takes an etic stance with regard to the Student Science Survey and an emic role while co-constructing knowledge with the perceptions of the students and teachers as a result of analyzing the interviews. Being a colleague of the teacher interviewees provided an insider perspective, and because of the relationships, helped to elicit honest and candid answers during the interviews. It can also introduce bias due to familiarity thereby impacting the etic nature in interpreting data. These relationships which provided entry to the research site also created ethical issues which were addressed and acknowledged as part of the researcher’s role (Creswell, 2009). “In qualitative studies, the researcher is the instrument of the research and the research relationships are the means by which the research gets done” (Maxwell, 2012, p. 91). In Phase II action research, the duality of the emic and etic stances also existed. In Iteration 1, the emic relationships between the researcher-teacher and students needed to be acknowledged since they can influence the data interpretations of the data where the researcher strives to maintain the etic perspective. Again, in Iteration 2 of the action research phase, the researcher must be honest in identifying herself as a faculty member and colleague of the teacher participant group.
An important component of any research investigation is the knowledge and background of the researcher. As a former scientist and current science teacher, my own personal
experiences have shaped my viewpoint and provided the impetus for the study (see Table 1, p. 68). I have constructed my own lens through which I observe the world and therefore can inject assumptions into the research as a result of my actions and experiences (Crotty, 1998). Trained in the positivist or post-positivist mindset and maintaining a degree of objectivity by following
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consistent procedural protocols helps to increase credibility and validity. From my experience as a science teacher, the pragmatic approach to finding a “what works” solution by taking action is what creates a learning environment that accommodates different perspectives. Knowledge and understanding are created from the perceptions of many groups and are necessary in order to take effective action to improve the local condition; however, even then there still remains an
underlying mechanism that might never be uncovered. Finding a workable solution starts with understanding the phenomenon in order to formulate an effective action plan. No singular philosophy can adequately address the knowledge, values, or beliefs of the researcher; “each of these selves comes into play in the research setting and consequently has a distinctive voice” (Guba & Lincoln, 2005, p. 210). Having intimate knowledge of the site provided another level of understanding and level of trust that provided participants an environment in which to be honest and forthcoming.
Table 1
Researcher’s Worldview Matrix
Researcher’s Worldview
Postpositivism Constructivism Pragmatism
Ontology :
Reality or what exists.
There is an absolute reality that can be best defined through scientific means and empirical evidence.
Each individual creates their own reality through the knowledge they acquire and their experiences interacting in the world.
Each stakeholder’s unique
perspective has been shaped by their experiences, knowledge and actions. Biesta (2010) refers to it as a “theory of knowing” or a “theory of experimental learning” because knowledge can only be obtained through action. Epistemology: How knowledge is constructed. Knowledge is constructed by proving or disproving theories. There exists an absolute truth. Phase I: Survey is administered to a larger sample and participant identity is unknown.
Knowledge is co-created by the perceptions of many.
Phase I: Exploration of student interest in learning science through student and teacher interviews to foster greater understanding of the local conditions.
Knowledge is created through doing. It is defined by what works in the situation at that moment in time. Phase I: Triangulation of data strands to corroborate information and provide a more detailed and descriptive understanding of learning strategies that increase situational interest in learning science in order to construct an effective intervention.
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Researcher’s Worldview
Postpositivism Constructivism Pragmatism
Axiology: Values and their role in research. Researcher remains objective and maintains an etic view. Value-free or despite being an insider at the site, as both teacher and colleague. Phase I: Survey is anonymous to prevent bias. (Academic and scientific training of researcher.)
Researcher is emic and etic. Researcher works closely with participants and therefore must acknowledge this role and its influence in the research process. Values and
perspectives of researcher and participants influence all aspects of research in Phase I and Phase II.
Researcher is emic and etic seeking to improve local conditions. Researcher implements actions to produce an outcome.
Phase II Action Research:
Understanding gained from Phase I has helped to create the intervention and the actions required for Phase II. Practice generated in Iteration 1 is reflected upon in order to improve actions in Iteration 2. Etic
perspective is maintained through use of evaluative rubric and post- STEM survey. Emic perspective evident in coding of student reflections and researcher/student interactions. Iteration 2, researcher- teacher’s emic relationships but researcher maintains overall etic perspective. Methodology: The processes used in research. Scientific method. Quantitative methods. Phase I: Student Science Survey administered to 10th- grade student population. Information from descriptive statistics to further inform Phase I and Phase II.
Qualitative methods to create theory that is grounded in the data. Analysis uncovers themes, patterns and rich description of the phenomenon. Phase I: Exploration or needs assessment of student interest in learning science. Descriptive statistics data used to
corroborate qualitative strands.
Multiple methods approach to find the best possible solution to the problem. Phase II: STEM Career intervention uses action research, and a reiterative process to measure the outcome of the actions.
Bounding the Case. The focus of this action research study was to understand how to increase student interest in learning science and pursuing STEM careers by 1) ascertaining student and teacher perceptions of student interest in learning science, 2) determining theory- embedded strategies to increase student interest in learning science, and 3) implementing an intervention to test its effectiveness in increasing student interest in pursuing science. The site of the study was the science department at a large suburban high school with a total student
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science courses, for the majority of students in this school, ensures that most 10th-grade students are enrolled in one of three levels of chemistry: practical, regular and honors. The school also has one class of ESL Chemistry for non-native English speakers which is comprised of all grades. There is also a small portion of students who are enrolled in 10th-grade biology as a result of an alternative sequence offering.
The student participants in this study were 10th-grade science students. The number of students in the 10th-grade class was approximately 600 students. The eight teacher participants were 10th-grade science teachers teaching different levels of chemistry and biology at the site. These teachers were selected because they teach at least two classes of 10th-grade students. The years of teaching experience range from the most novice at six years to the most experienced with 40 years of teaching science. The research specifically targeted 10th-grade students because the researcher is a 10th-grade science teacher at the site. The action research approach enabled the researcher to reflect upon her praxis and improve upon her teaching. The timeframe for the study was approximately 11 months for the collection of all data sources.
Phase I of the study began with an invitation to the entire 10th-grade student population (approximately 600 students) to participate in an anonymous Student Science Survey. The survey used excerpted sections from the PISA 2006 Student Questionnaire that focused on interest in science, enjoyment of science, science self-concept, methods of teaching and learning,