An Accelerated Longitudinal Design Study Examining Emotional Engagement toward Learning Science from Grades 3 through 12

IF 3.1 3区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Research in Science Education Pub Date : 2026-09-23 DOI:10.1007/s11165-026-10368-z

Robert H. Tai, Ji Hoon Ryoo, Xin Xia, Katherine P. Dabney, John T. Almarode, Adam V. Maltese

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Abstract

As educators, we often see the enthusiasm for learning science in schools starting out strong in primary years and then fading as student progress into middle and secondary school. The motivation of this study is to offer a picture of how students’ emotional engagement in learning school science changes from Grades 3 to 12. This study applies an accelerated longitudinal design which collected data from 11 back-to-back cohorts of students from four US school districts. Each cohort was surveyed two times each school year, fall and spring, over two years in four waves of data collection. The sample includes more than 7000 participants. While a longitudinal study spanning this period of time would take nearly a decade to complete and pose significant data collection and data integrity challenges, the accelerated longitudinal design provides a simulation of longitudinal data in a two-year time span. The results show an unambiguous decline in emotional engagement which appears to begin in Grade 3 continuing to Grade 9 before flattening to ambivalent levels in Grade 10. These findings show that the decline happens both across and within each grade level. These results suggest that the decline is not just an artifact of science becoming more challenging in upper grade levels, but rather school science experiences may be having a negative impact within each school year.

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一项考察三年级至十二年级科学学习情感投入的加速纵向设计研究

作为教育工作者，我们经常看到在学校学习科学的热情在小学阶段开始强烈，然后随着学生进入初中和初中而消退。本研究的动机是提供三年级至十二年级学生在学校科学学习中的情感投入的变化情况。本研究采用加速纵向设计，收集了来自美国四个学区的11名背靠背学生的数据。每个学生每学年分别在秋季和春季接受两次调查，共进行了两年多的四波数据收集。样本包括7000多名参与者。虽然跨越这段时间的纵向研究需要近十年的时间才能完成，并且对数据收集和数据完整性提出了重大挑战，但加速纵向设计可以在两年的时间内模拟纵向数据。结果显示，情感投入明显下降，从三年级开始持续到九年级，然后在十年级趋于平缓，达到矛盾水平。这些发现表明，每个年级之间和每个年级内部都出现了这种下降。这些结果表明，这种下降不仅仅是科学在高年级变得更具挑战性的产物，而是学校的科学经历可能在每个学年都有负面影响。

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来源期刊

Research in Science Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

8.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： 2020 Five-Year Impact Factor: 4.021 2020 Impact Factor: 5.439 Ranking: 107/1319 (Education) – Scopus 2020 CiteScore 34.7 – Scopus Research in Science Education (RISE ) is highly regarded and widely recognised as a leading international journal for the promotion of scholarly science education research that is of interest to a wide readership. RISE publishes scholarly work that promotes science education research in all contexts and at all levels of education. This intention is aligned with the goals of Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA), the association connected with the journal. You should consider submitting your manscript to RISE if your research: Examines contexts such as early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary, workplace, and informal learning as they relate to science education; and Advances our knowledge in science education research rather than reproducing what we already know. RISE will consider scholarly works that explore areas such as STEM, health, environment, cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology and higher education where science education is forefronted. The scholarly works of interest published within RISE reflect and speak to a diversity of opinions, approaches and contexts. Additionally, the journal’s editorial team welcomes a diversity of form in relation to science education-focused submissions. With this in mind, RISE seeks to publish empirical research papers. Empircal contributions are: Theoretically or conceptually grounded; Relevant to science education theory and practice; Highlight limitations of the study; and Identify possible future research opportunities. From time to time, we commission independent reviewers to undertake book reviews of recent monographs, edited collections and/or textbooks. Before you submit your manuscript to RISE, please consider the following checklist. Your paper is: No longer than 6000 words, including references. Sufficiently proof read to ensure strong grammar, syntax, coherence and good readability; Explicitly stating the significant and/or innovative contribution to the body of knowledge in your field in science education; Internationalised in the sense that your work has relevance beyond your context to a broader audience; and Making a contribution to the ongoing conversation by engaging substantively with prior research published in RISE. While we encourage authors to submit papers to a maximum length of 6000 words, in rare cases where the authors make a persuasive case that a work makes a highly significant original contribution to knowledge in science education, the editors may choose to publish longer works.