Relationship between Science Academic Passion and Positive Experience about Science of Elementary General and Science-Gifted Students

This study investigated the relationship between science academic passion and positive experience about science of elementary general and science-gifted students. To do this, 4th-6th grade students (n=90) at elementary schools and 4th-6th grade students (n=126) at gifted science education institutes in Seoul were selected. Tests for science academic passion and positive experience about science were then administered and correlation analysis between the two variables was performed. Analysis of the results revealed all subcategories of science academic passion had significantly positive relationships with all subcategories of positive experience about science. The degree of correlation between subcategories of science academic passion and subcategories of positive experience about science differ significantly in some correlations (correlations between ‘importance’ and ‘science academic emotion’, ‘importance’ and ‘science learning motivation’, and ‘harmonious passion’ and ‘science-related self-concept’) between general students and science-gifted students. The degree of correlation between science academic passion and positive experience about science were also somewhat different according to each subcategory of the two variables. And this tendency was similar between general students and science-gifted students in the subcategories (‘importance’, ‘like’, and ‘time/energy investment’) corresponding to “intensity” of science academic passion, but there was a slight difference between general students and science-gifted students in the subcategories (‘harmonious passion’ and ‘obsessive passion’) corresponding to “type”. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.