The representation of scientific research in the national curriculum and secondary school pupils' perceptions of research, its function, usefulness and value to their lives.

ABSTRACT: Young people's views on what research is, how it is conducted and whether it is important, influences the decisions they make about their further studies and career choices. In this paper we report the analysis of questionnaire data with a particular focus on pupil perceptions of research in the sciences and of the scientific method. The questionnaire was a 25-item Likert Scale (1-5) distributed to seven collaborating schools. We received 2634 returns from pupils across key stages 3, 4 and 5. We also asked teachers to complete the questionnaire in order to explore how they thought their pupils would respond. We received 54 teacher responses. Statistically significant differences in the responses were identified through a chi-square test on SPSS. As what is being taught influences secondary

SUBMITTER: Yeoman K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4722701 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature