ABSTRACT

The lack of interest among pre-university students to choose STEM subjects for their higher education is a heavily debated issue in many western-world countries. To boost Danish students’ interest in biology, a study event on artificial reefs was introduced when teaching marine biology in lower secondary school and upper secondary school (student age 13–20 years). The purpose was to investigate if the focus on artificial reefs could generate an increased interest in natural science and marine biology among the students. The students’ interest in science was evaluated using electronic questionnaires before and after they had completed the teaching programme. The students were significantly more interested in natural sciences and marine biology after than before the teaching program. The development in situational interest in science and in the oceans was different for males and females with females being most interested. Thus, it is possible to trigger a situational interest for science and marine biology by teaching about artificial reefs, but the way interest is triggered differs between different age groups and sexes.

摘要

在许多西方国家，大学预科生对选择 STEM 科目进行高等教育缺乏兴趣是一个备受争议的问题。为了提高丹麦学生对生物学的兴趣，在初中和高中（13-20 岁的学生）教授海洋生物学时，引入了一项关于人工鱼礁的学习活动。目的是调查对人工鱼礁的关注是否可以激发学生对自然科学和海洋生物学的兴趣。在完成教学计划之前和之后，使用电子问卷评估学生对科学的兴趣。学生对自然科学和海洋生物学的兴趣明显高于教学计划之前。男性和女性对科学和海洋的情境兴趣的发展是不同的，女性最感兴趣。因此，可以通过教授人工鱼礁来激发对科学和海洋生物学的情境兴趣，但激发兴趣的方式因年龄组和性别而异。