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Alien or Alike? How the Perceived Similarity Between the Typical Science Teacher and a Student’s Self-Image Correlates with Choosing Science at School

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Abstract

By applying the self-to-prototype matching theory to students’ academic choices, this study links the unpopularity of science in many industrialized countries with the perceived gap between typical persons representing science (e.g. physics teachers) on the one hand and students’ self-image on the other. A sample of N = 308 Dutch and German students described both themselves and typical teachers representing different school subjects using 65 trait adjectives. The following hypotheses were tested: The typical hard sciences teacher and the typical languages teacher will be perceived as differing in their personal characteristics. The typical physics teachers will be perceived as being less similar to students' own self-image than teachers representing languages. Actual choices students make during secondary school should correlate with the perceived fit between students’ self-image and the prototype of teachers representing different school subjects, especially in the less frequent and less popular choices of a math or physics major/profile. The findings supported these hypotheses. The discussion stresses that students acquire not only knowledge about science but also about science culture (sensu Aikenhead) in their science classes and that students’ image of science teachers can influence their academic choices.

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Notes

  1. In the Netherlands a similar decrease occurred. However, in recent years it seems to have come to a standstill http://www.vhto.nl/cijfers-trends/voortgezet-onderwijs/havovwo.html

  2. Germany and the Netherlands are both developed countries with a very high Index of Human Development (rank 7 (Netherlands) and 10 (Germany) out of 169 countries, United Nations Development Programme [2010]). Given the similar background regarding education, standards of living, and culture in the Netherlands and Germany, and the similar shortage of students choosing a career in S&T, measuring the prototype of the typical science teacher by using the same instrument seems justified. Given the similarities in industrialized countries regarding the relatively negative attitudes towards science (when compared to develo** countries where teenagers greatly value science and technology [ROSE-Study, Schreiner and Sjøberg 2004]), we expected more similarities than dissimilarities between Dutch and German students’ perceptions of teachers. However, since attitudes towards science in Germany and the Netherlands have been found to differ in several respects (European Commission 2005), we were also interested in testing for differences in students’ views of teachers in these two countries.

  3. The trait adjectives used for the description of the prototypes were derived from four pilot studies, in which the authors used qualitative, open measurements.

  4. The target school subjects in the German and Dutch run had to differ as it would not be useful, for example, to include an economics teacher prototype in the German run, since this school subject is very rare, and chosen as a major (in Berlin) by less than one percent of students. However, as it is the core subject of the Dutch profile Economy & Society, it was included in the Dutch run. For the German sample, we included mathematics, German, and English, as these are the three subjects most often chosen as a major by students who go on to university (Heine et al. 2005). In both countries, the physics teacher prototype was measured because the perception of the physics teacher is the main focus of our research.

  5. For instance, in Germany 66% of first year university students of physics had physics as a subject major at school, and 77% of them had mathematic as a major. 80% of first-year students of electrical engineering had mathematics as major, while 81% of students of English studies had English as a major at school (Heine et al. 2005).

  6. These compulsory subjects are all taught in 9th grade, except for economics, which may result in the higher uncertainty about the economics teacher prototype (see below).

  7. Students indicated they felt especially different from the typical economics teacher. However, this finding is probably due the fact that most students in grade 9 have never had economics and do not know any economics teachers.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Educational Psychology, Universität zu Köln, HF, Gronewaldstr. 2, 50931, Köln, Germany

    Ursula Kessels

  2. Eindhoven School of Education, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Ruurd Taconis

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  1. Ursula Kessels
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Correspondence to Ursula Kessels.

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Kessels, U., Taconis, R. Alien or Alike? How the Perceived Similarity Between the Typical Science Teacher and a Student’s Self-Image Correlates with Choosing Science at School. Res Sci Educ 42, 1049–1071 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-011-9230-9

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