Considerable research has focused on how best to satisfy modern societies' needs for skilled labour in the field of science. The present study evaluated an intervention programme designed to increase secondary school students' motivation to pursue a science career. Students from 3 schools of the highest educational track participated for up to 2…

The relevance of environmental attitudes is obvious and attitudes towards farm and companion animals and animal welfare in medical research are an important aspect of education. However, both have rarely been linked with each other, and animal attitudes are only sparsely represented within environmental education assessment instruments. Linking…

Clean drinking water, our most important resource, needs comprehensive protection. Due to its ubiquitous availability, the awareness of the importance of clean drinking water has partially vanished. Therefore, sensitizing within this context and improving individual ecological behavior has become an important issue in science curricula. We…

In the present study (N = 553; 8th and 11th grade students; 52% female) we investigated students' enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom while completing homework (homework emotions), and contrasted these emotions with those experienced during class (classroom emotions). Both homework emotions and classroom emotions were assessed separately…

Treating creationism as a controversial topic within the science and religion issue in the science classroom has been widely discussed in the recent literature. Some researchers have proposed that this topic is best addressed by focusing on sociocognitive conflict. To prepare new learning opportunities for this approach, it is necessary to know…

Worldwide, a tendency is visible in which upper secondary science curricula are innovated in the direction of context-based education. Crucial to these innovations is the way teachers interact with newly developed teaching materials and implement them in classroom practice. The focus of our research is to identify characteristics of the…

This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequality in educational scores and their evolution over time in four European countries. Using Programme for International Student Assessment data from the 2000 and the 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequality decreased in Germany and Spain (two "decentralised" schooling…

This paper describes the development of different lesson plans dealing with authentic and controversial socio-scientific issues in the framework of climate change. These lesson plans orient themselves along the socio-critical, problem-oriented approach to science teaching. They deal with the use of bioethanol as an alternative fuel and with the…

Recently, different methodological approaches have been discussed as an explanation for inconsistencies in studies investigating sex differences in different intelligences. The present study investigates sex differences in manifest sum scores, factor score estimates, and latent verbal, numerical, figural intelligence, as well as fluid and…

This study examines the relationships of vocational interests and mathematical literacy both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Extending previous research, the results of Holland's RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) scale scores are compared with results from a reductionist approach using…

It was assumed that the effect of motivational regulation strategies on achievement is mediated by effort management and moderated by intelligence. A sample of 231 11th and 12th grade German high-school students provided self-reports on their use of motivational regulation strategies and effort management and completed an intelligence test.…

In introductory chemistry courses students are presented with the model that matter is composed of particles, and that weak forces of attraction exist between them. This model is used to interpret phenomena such as solubility and melting points, and aids in understanding the changes in states of matter as opposed to chemical reactions. We…

The present study examined to which extent different motivational concepts contribute to the prediction of school achievement among adolescent students independently from intelligence. A sample of 342 11th and 12th graders (age M = 16.94; SD = .71) was investigated. Students gave self-reports on domain-specific values, ability self-perceptions,…

This paper reports on the effects the use of a pocket calculator-based computer algebra system (CAS) has on the performance in mathematics of grade 11 students in Germany. A project started at 8 of about one hundred upper secondary schools in the federal state of Thuringia in 1999; 3 years later the former restrictions on the use of technology in…

This study assessed 43 gifted adolescent females in the United States and Germany over a 4-year period. Initially the girls were assessed during their 7th or 8th grade and again for this current study during their 11th or 12th grade. Factors that were examined included the daughters' attachment to and psychological separation from their mothers,…