This paper examines Swedish secondary students’ interest in science and technology from a gender perspectivein a comparative research design using quantitative data collected 2003 and 2020. National datahas been collected from 610 15-year-old students in 2020 as part of a large-scale comparative researchproject, the Relevance of Science Education - Second (ROSES) and compared with data from the Relevanceof Science Education (ROSE) study from 2003. The results empirically update the research field and showa reoccurring interest pattern with minor changes. Content related to space and unexplained phenomenaare still ranked as interesting to learn about. Girls are interested in health issues and the human body,space, dreams and the human soul. Boys favour items about space, inventions and discoveries togetherwith ABC weapons. Minor developments are that interest in learning about diets and exercise as wellas technology has declined. The least interesting things to learn are almost the same as in 2003, with several topics connected to the national science curriculum. The character of students’ interest in S&T isframed and discussed using the theoretical approach of science identity. The stable character with minorchanges is discussed as reoccurring science identities interpreted by the differentiation hypothesis of the“person-object theory of interest”. Gender differences are interpreted as collective identities shown to be‘domain specific’ not ‘subject specific’ and the content level of analysis provide specificity to ‘interest patterns’which has not been well described earlier in the research literature. Research consequences of thisconceptualization and implications for school practice is critically discussed. A research implication fromthis conceptualization is the importance for future studies to investigate varieties of collective identities.

Science identity in science and technology in a cross-cultural perspective

Research on students’ interest in science and technology (S&T) is an international concern. Identity is a growing concept in the field which imply that interest can differentiate in content areas partly depending on national and cultural influences. Therefor cross-cultural perspectives are key in understanding differentiation. This symposium contributes by presenting four studies in different countries on three continents. Data are part of an ongoing large international research study called the Relevance of Science Education Second (ROSES) study concerned with students’ relationships with S&T. Data is gathered by a questionnaire. The research is explorative; hence analysis is done from national interests and constraints. The studies present results showing that specific content and value domains are in connection with secondary students’ choices to study S&T further. The studies reveal that in some cases the wish to become a scientist has increased while in others there are contradictions between a positive attitude towards conducting research and defending the environment and a lack of interest in pursuing a science career. The symposium is framed by identity as theoretical approach and contributes with specificities of interest and values showing examples of how the situation is differentiated in a cross-cultural perspective.

1. Secondary students’ science and technology identities: Specific content areas and values

In researching students’ interest in science and technology (S&T) during the 21st century science identity has become an important concept. Studies show interest and values to be related to identity development which is investigated in this study. The empirical evidence is part of a large international research study called the Relevance of Science Education Second (ROSES) study where data is collected by a questionnaire built up by several categories dealing with secondary students’ interest in and attitudes towards S&T. National data used in this paper were collected in spring 2020. Exploratory factor analysis where the initial solution is followed by orthogonal rotation was applied to analyse data in three steps. The analysis presents seven factors of students’ interest in S&T, five of students’ values, and two more dealing with students’ experiences of S&T and whether they believe S&T in the media is reliable. In addition, the respondents were sorted into five groups by the choices they had made for upper secondary education and related to all factors. The results show that the students who apply for S&T programs in upper secondary education differ from other students in both the interest and values factors. The results are framed with identity as a theoretical approach and contribute with concrete characters of how students’ interests and values in S&T are differentiated with implications for recruitment of students to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education area.

 2. Identifying STEM Career Pathways through Relevance of Science Education

Factors affecting selection of the future STEM career for the secondary school students were studied in Georgia, Eastern Europe. Data were collected from the nationally representative sample of 9th and 10th grade students using the ROSES (The Relevance of Science Education – Second) questionnaire. As a result of the logistic multiple regression analysis, the outcome variable was affected by individual and societal dimensions of relevance of science education. Specifically, positively predicted by taking personal responsibility over environmental problems as well as interest in sex and reproductive health sphere, while interest in unexplained phenomena was a negative predictor of choosing STEM occupation. Students’ age and grade also positively predicted selection of the STEM career, which is an expected result. Recommendations for educators have been developed.

3. Youth’s environmental attitudes and use of digital media and social networks: a comparative exploration from seven Spanish-speaking countries

This study presents an international comparison among seven Spanish-speaking countries on the two main themes of ESERA-2025 conference: the environmental attitudes (EA) and the use of digital media and social networks (DM). These two categories are quantitatively and qualitatively assessed from the voices of a large sample of 15-year-old students, who answered the questionnaire of the international project (The relevance of science education, ROSES) that explores some affective factors of science education. Further, gender and across countries differences are also checked through significance probability and effect size of the differences. The main findings point out to students’ proactive environmental attitudes and moderate DM use in science classes, which are also quite similar across countries. However, some trends pinpoint to extreme EA and DM use in Argentina and Mexico. Further, the results also show generalised differences about EA and DM use between boys and girls and across countries. The overall gender differences on EA show that girls hold more positive attitudes than boys across all countries, though the effect size attain moderate to small scores. Regarding DM use, the gender differences are negative for all countries, that is, boys report higher overall DM use than girls, though the gender effect sizes are quite small. The consequences of these results for science education and for research on these issues, as well as the limitations of this study and the future prospective are discussed.

4. Students’ relationship with science and technology in Italy and Brazil

The Roses survey conducted in Italy and Brazil involved two significant samples of students aged 14-16. The survey studied students' attitudes and opinions towards scientific activities. In both countries there is considerable interest in scientific activities and a good percentage of students want to pursue a career as scientists. It is noted that thinking about research activity and living as a scientist are two different conditions and with motivations that vary from the cultural context in which Italian and Brazilian adolescents live. In the Brazilian context, specifically in the Amazon region where the investigation was conducted, the profession of scientist is not as common as in Europe. In the Italian case, adolescents have had a strong exposure to the presence of scientists in the media and this has certainly influenced the notable increase in the willingness to embrace a career as a researcher. These elements of difference will be discussed by valorizing the data collected in light of the different motivations that move adolescents.

Kunskap är ett svårfångat begrepp, som har sysselsatt mänskligheten i flera tusen år. Även om det är svårt att avgränsa och definiera är det centralt för att beskriva skola och utbildning. I grund- och gymnasieskolans uppdrag ingår exempelvis kunskapskrav, som eleverna kan uppnå på olika nivåer, och ett av lärarens uppdrag handlar om att mäta i vilken utsträckning detta åstadkoms. För att elever ska kunna röra sig mot utbildningens målsättningar behövs miljöer, platser för lärandet, som frambringar ändamålsenliga lärandeprocesser. Det här kapitlet argumenterar i korthet för att detta innebär och kräver lärande i och utanför skolan utifrån förståelse för kunskapsbegreppets hantering i utbildningens uppdrag. Att ta kunskapsbegreppet på allvar handlar om att lärandet i skolan behöver organiseras så att aktiviteter i klassrum får en förbindelse till natur och samhälle i bred mening. Förbindelserna är väsentliga, men hur kan de åstadkommas?

Historically students’ interest in science and technology (S&T) has been researched mostly from a gender and age perspective and on a subject level of analysis. The work presented in this study make use of Swedish quantitative data from a large scale international and comparative research project called “The Relevance of Science Education Second (ROSES) study” to investigate secondary students’ interest in S&T on a content level of analysis. National data were collected by a questionnaire in 2020. By making use of the theoretical development pointed out in the literature the “person-object theory of interest” is used to frame and interpret the results. In this perspective interest is expected to differentiate as interest patterns. Seven such patterns were identified by an explorative factor analysis which points out a direction for future work to investigate students’ interest in S&T with a deepened understanding of how learning S&T is influenced by identity formation. 

The research field of students’ interest in science and technology (S&T) has a belonging to the Nordic countries by for example the international large scale comparative relevance of science education (ROSE) study realized in the beginning of the 21st century. ROSE has been developed to the relevance of science education second (ROSES) study. This paper report ongoing ROSES work in Sweden. National data from secondary students were collected in 2020 by a questionnaire. In this paper results from the “What I want to learn about” category is presented. There is a message in the literature to connect the research field more strongly to identity which is done in this paper by factor analysis with a varimax rotation. Identified factors are related to the concept of collective identities. Seven factors,which explain 50% of the variance in the material, are presented with belonging content items and names. The results are also compared with earlier studies. The result shows for example that environment and sustainability has become more important and technology less. This alteration is pointed out and discussed connected to the theoretical development of collective identities to understand internal and external dimensions of identity which influence students’ willingness to engage in S&T education. 

There is a substantial literature in science education research showing that many students experience a lack of relevance in science education. For this reason, science teachers’ selection ofcontent and the way content is treated when exposed to students for learning purposes is animportant part of the problem. In this connection, research show that science teachers’ valuesstrongly infuence several aspects of teaching and learning science. Therefore, science teachers’values are important to investigate, to be empirically informed and to be able to develop scienceeducation. Accordingly, there is an increased volume of research studies about teachers’ values in science education and their efects. The study presented here is part of a larger nationalexploration of biotechnology education in upper secondary schools in Sweden and contributesby showing variation in teachers’ values and relations with practice. Theoretically, the studyis rooted in a philosophy of science recognizing the potential importance of teachers’ nonepistemic values. Empirically, it is based on surveyed upper secondary school biology teachers’ views of the importance of including value-laden topics in their science teaching. Theirresponses were analyzed by latent profle analysis and non-parametric testing, to assess the variation in their views and explore associations with several explanatory factors. The results showthat the surveyed teachers could be divided into two distinct groups: one favoring inclusion ofvalue-laden topics in their teaching and another (smaller group) opposed to it. The result alsoshows a variation in teachers’ selection of topics to teach and their teaching approach, as theformer group were more inclined than the latter to include value-laden aspects in their teaching which contributes to the research literature. Furthermore, experienced science teachers wereoverrepresented in the group holding more negative views, a result not reported elsewhere inthe research literature. The importance of the results is discussed in relation with the theoreticalframing of non-epistemic values and points out the importance to further investigate underlyingcauses to science teachers’ expressed values and ways that they might vary temporally togetherwith ways that they cluster, as they are shown to be grouped. The result is also discussed in relation with practice in being able to make use of the evidence to develop science education.

The Relevance of Science Education - Second (ROSES) is an international comparative research projectgathering empirical evidence on factors with importance for learning science and technology from astudent point of view. (Jidesjö, Oskarsson, & Westman, 2020; Oskarsson, Westman, & Jidesjö, 2019).ROSES uses a common questionnaire to students containing categories such as S&T content in andoutside school, future job, environmental challenges, social media, and informal S&T experiences.We will present comparisons between students opinion and willingness to engage in Science from awide range of countries. We will further present results from Sweden where a group of studentsbelieves it is important to learn about sustainability and that they can influence what happens. This alsoindicate some agency where students are willing to act as well as willing to sacrifice. Group of studentsin our material shows sign of Science Capital, a feeling of science being for them, (Archer et al 2015).

This paper presents how Swedish secondary student’s science capital is coupled with science identity. The data is part of a large international research study called The Relevance of Science Education Second (ROSES) which aims to explore students’ interest in, and motivation to learn, science and technology. The result identifies five science identities having different correlations with five factors of science capital. The study if framed by the theoretical development of an extended bourdieusian notion of capital together with science identity.