From General Science Teaching to Discipline-Specific Science Teaching: Physics Instruction and Students’ Subject-Related Interest Levels During the Transition from Primary to Secondary School

Research findings indicate that the transition from primary to secondary school involves changes in science teaching and might be a crucial interface for students’ interest development in science and especially in physics. In order to longitudinally describe (1) the changes in physics-related instruction from the students’ perspective as well as (2) the changes in their physics-related interests, the study presented here tracks German students over the key period of ages 10–14. For this purpose, 348 students could be annually surveyed from fourth grade in primary school (av. age 10.31 years) to seventh grade in secondary school (av. age 13.55 years). Variance analyses of the longitudinal data (repeated-measures ANOVAS) confirm that the students’ physics-related interests drop after school transition. Furthermore, the students perceived significant declines in various aspects of the quality of physics-related instruction when they entered secondary school. Gender differences could be identified in some areas.