Inquiry-based science instruction has been proposed as an optimal learning environment for language-integrated teaching. While its potential for developing both content knowledge and language skills has been shown for students with limited language proficiency, research focusing on mainstream classrooms has mainly considered domain-specific…

Students' interest in science declines substantially in the transition from elementary to secondary education. Using students' ratings of their instruction on the topic of evaporation and condensation, we examined if changes in instructional practices accounted for differences in situational interest in science instruction and enduring individual…

A decline in biology interest has often been claimed but seldom with an empirically substantiation. This study was based on a sample of 3rd and 4th grade pupils within the same geographical area as Lowe's (1987, 1992) previous results from southwest Germany from the year 1983. We used a four-point Likert-type questionnaire to assess interest with…

Compared two experimental teaching strategies (hierarchical knowledge structuring and semantical networking) with traditional worksheet approaches used in (German) fourth-grade classes studying the mallard's adaption to its environment. Findings showed no significant effect favoring the experimental approaches over the traditional method. However,…