Factors Motivating Secondary School Students to Study Biology and to Participate in Biological Competitions
Abstract
The number of students who are interested in science has been declining in the Czech Republic. It is therefore important to find out how we can interest or engage students in nature and science.
Moreover, we believe the students who show some interest should be supported by appropriate school and after-school activities. These can be, for example, subject Olympiads like the Biology Olympiad or Student Science Activities.
Our research aim was to identify and quantify key stimuli that engage students' interest in biology and to learn more about their attitudes and interests. We therefore interviewed 11 former Biology Olympiad participants and designed a complex questionnaire based on their answers.
This questionnaire was used to obtain data from 154 secondary school students who showed some interest in biology. The results indicate that the Biology Olympiad participants rated the school subjects of chemistry and physics (but not biology) more positively than other students interested in biology.
They also rated molecular and cellular biology better than the others. The students who had not participated in the Biology Olympiad rated human biology more positively.
We recognize that parents often initiated students' interest in nature regardless of their professions. Consequently, it is interesting to note that the participants in the national round of the Biology Olympiad had started to be actively interested in nature before they started to attend school, contrary to other pupils.