Hugh T. Patrick|Panayota Mantzicopoulos|Ala Samarapungavan
Motivation for learning science in kindergarten: Is there a gender gap and does integrated inquiry and literacy instruction make a difference
Purdue University West Lafayette|Purdue University West Lafayette|Purdue University West Lafayette
abstract investigated whether kindergarten girls boys n 162 motivation science perceived competence liking differed children ethnically linguistically diverse primarily lowincome families attended one three schools one school offered typical kindergarten science experience kindergarteners two schools participated scientific literacy project slpa program based conceptually coherent sequence integrated science inquiry literacy activities slp lasted either 5 10 weeks regardless sex groups slp children greater motivation science children regular science experience moreover children receiving 10 weeks slp reported greater science competence received 5 weeks boys regular classrooms reported liking science girls however sex difference slp children results supported interview data accessing childrens ideas science findings suggest early meaningful participation science likely promote girls boys motivation science 2008 wiley periodicals inc j res sci teach 46 166191 2009