Why are we learning this? Using mixed methods to understand teachers’ relevance statements and how they shape middle school students’ perceptions of science utility

Abstract

We investigated how four middle school science teachers perceived and communicated the relevance of science content in their seventh-grade classrooms (n = 14), and examined their students’ (N = 306) perceptions regarding the utility of daily course content and the domain of science more generally. Teacher interviews and repeated classroom observations were used to build an understanding of how and for whom science teachers saw science content as relevant, and to examine the different ways teachers communicated content relevance to students during instruction. Students’ perceptions of science utility were measured using repeated self-reports of the usefulness of daily content and traditional surveys assessing global science utility. Following separate analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data strands, the data sources were merged to investigate how teachers’ relevance statements relate to their own stated beliefs, and to students’ daily and global perceptions of science utility. Teachers varied in terms of the depth and breadth of connections they saw between science content and students’ lives, and these beliefs were largely reflected in the relevance statements they made while they were teaching. Students perceived the domain of science as being moderately useful, and often did not see the utility of their daily course activities. When teachers made more frequent relevance statements, their students were more likely to see daily content as useful and had increased perceptions of global science utility. Results highlight the influence of teacher beliefs on practice, as well as the immediate and longer-term effects of relevance strategies on students’ utility beliefs.