In this study, we examined whether generalised mathematics anxiety, application of mathematics in science anxiety, and positive attitudes towards mathematics influenced adolescents' intentions to study biology, chemistry, and physics in Grades 11 and 12. Participants were 477 students in Grades 8-10 from two schools in Western Sydney. Girls…

There is growing interest in the introduction of Einsteinian concepts of space, time, light and gravity across the entire school curriculum. We have developed an educational programme named 'Einstein-First', which focuses on teaching Einsteinian concepts by using simple models and analogies. To test the effectiveness of these models and analogies…

This paper reviews research results obtained from Einsteinian physics programs run by different instructors with Years 6, 9, 10 and 11 students using the models and analogies described in parts 1 and 2. The research aimed to determine whether it is possible to teach Einsteinian physics and to measure the changes in student attitudes to physics…

Although the benefits of addressing cognitive, social and affective aspects of learning in order to support conceptual change have been discussed in the literature, there are few studies of such interventions in the normal classroom. This study used a multidimensional conceptual change framework in order to teach five biology and physics topics…

Recently, students' interest in science has been conceptualized as a network model: the science interest network model (SINM) in which affective, behavioural and cognitive components interact together; building on science interest being a dynamic relational construct. In the current study, we combine the Australian Programme for International…

In recent years, the numbers of girls in secondary and tertiary education studying Physics have declined. This research sought to investigate Years 10 and 11 female students' views about Physics and their physics teachers and was conducted in an all-girls independent school. While the findings show that in general these students do not relate well…

This paper reports and discusses the principal findings of an Australian study exploring the decisions of high achieving Year 10 students about taking physics and chemistry courses (Lyons, 2003). The study used a "multiple worlds" framework to explore the diverse background characteristics that previous quantitative research had shown…

A study found first-year physics students at the University of Namibia (UNAM), considered to be a select group of students, to be as prepared for laboratory work as Australian tenth-graders. Comparison with students of Potchefstroom University (South Africa) found UNAM students deficient in both cognitive and affective aspects of laboratory work.…

One of the clear findings of recent research on the learning of science has been that students who have completed science courses commonly use conceptions held before instruction to interpret natural phenomena. This paper reports on a study of conceptual change in mechanics with particular concern with the nature of student awareness of any…