International and national studies have revealed a sharp decline in student science engagement during the middle years of schooling. In Aotearoa New Zealand, over 20 years of cross-sectional evidence has repeatedly shown high levels of student engagement with science in primary school and lower levels in high school, but very little evidence in-between. In this study, we conducted an engagement survey (n = 429) across Years 7–10 (11–15 yo) to better understand this gap. We found that decreasing engagement with science was only apparent when considering school science, but not in other contexts like choosing science careers or science outside of school. Contrary to common rhetoric of a ‘decline’ in student engagement with science, we suggest that the middle years are marked with uncertainty about the role of science in students’ lives, which would benefit from a shift toward contextualised curricula.

中文翻译：

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新西兰中学跨年科学参与

国际和国家研究表明，学生在中学阶段的科学参与度急剧下降。在新西兰 Aotearoa，超过 20 年的横断面证据一再表明，学生在小学时对科学的参与度较高，而在高中时对科学的参与度较低，但两者之间的证据很少。在这项研究中，我们在第 7-10 年（11-15 岁）期间进行了一项参与度调查 (n = 429)，以更好地了解这一差距。我们发现，只有在考虑学校科学时才会明显减少对科学的参与，但在选择科学职业或校外科学等其他情况下则不然。与学生对科学的参与度“下降”的普遍说法相反，我们认为中年时期的标志是科学在学生生活中的作用的不确定性，