Students' perceptions about science: The impact of transition from primary to secondary school

As students move through school, attitudes to school in general, and science in particular, become less positive. This paper reports on a longitudinal study which mapped, from the students' point of view, the transition between primary and secondary school in Western Australia. The study focused on the subject of science, and used both quantitative and qualitative methods. During the transition, there is a considerable change in the organisation of the school, the curriculum and the teacherstudent relationship. Students in this study, especially the girls, were generally disenchanted with the teaching strategies used in their secondary science classrooms, and regretted the loss of the close teacher-student relationship of their primary school years. Their perceptions were that science in secondary school was not what they had expected, and this experience may have long term implications for their subject and career choices.