JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 48, NO. 2, PP. 199–216 (2011) Adolescents’ Declining Motivation to Learn Science: Inevitable or Not? Dana Vedder-Weiss and David Fortus Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel Received 4 March 2010; Accepted 25 October 2010 Abstract: There is a growing awareness that science education should center not just on knowledge acquisition but developing the foundation for lifelong learning. However, for intentional learning of science to occur in school, out of school, and after school, there needs to be a motivation to learn science. Prior research had shown that students’ motivation to learn science tends to decrease during adolescence [Anderman and Young [1994] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 31: 811–831; Lee and Anderson [1993] American Educational Research Journal 30: 585–610; Simpson and Oliver [1990] Science Education 74: 1–18]. This study compared 5th through 8th grade students’ self-reported goal orientations, engagement in science class, continuing motivation for science learning, and perceptions of their schools’ and parents’ goals emphases, in Israeli traditional and democratic schools. The results show that the aforementioned decline in adolescents’ motivation for science learning in school and out of school is not an inevitable developmental trend, since it is apparent only in traditional schools but not in democratic ones. The results suggest that the non-declining motivation of adolescents in democratic schools is not a result of home influence but rather is related to the school culture. ß 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., J Res Sci Teach 48: 199–216, 2011 Keywords: motivation; school culture; adolescents A growing body of research shows the importance of motivation in education (Schunk, Pintrich, & Meece, 2008). However, researchers in science education have studied motivation and other affective constructs much less than cognitive constructs (Koballa & Glynn, 2007). Several researchers have suggested that we turn our attention towards motivation more than we have done before (e.g., Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993). The goal of this study was to explore, using the lens of achievement goal theory, age-related trends of Israeli students’ motivation for science learning in different school cultures. In particular, we investigated age-related trends of students’: (1) motivation in science class (goal orientations and classroom engagement), (2) continuing motivation for science learning (engagement in and rejection of science related extra- curricular activities), and (3) perceptions of their parents’ and schools’ goals emphases for science learning. Historically, science motivation research has adopted four perspectives of motivation: (1) behavioral (emphasizing concepts such as incentives and reinforcement); (2) humanistic (emphasizing students’ capacity for personal growth, their freedom to choose their destiny, and their desire to achieve and excel); (3) cognitive (emphasizing students’ goals, plans, expectations, and attributions); (4) social (emphasizing students identities and their interpersonal relationships in the community). Science education researchers adopted one or more of these perspective when studying motivation. For example, Simpson and Oliver (1990) adopted many of these perspectives, as the basis for a large multidimensional longitudinal study performed between 1979 and 1989. This study showed that the science curriculum and practices which were used at that time in schools in the USA ‘‘were not collectively producing students with positive feelings towards science’’ (p. 16). Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article. Correspondence to: Dana Vedder-Weiss, E-mail: Dana.Weiss@weizmann.ac.il DOI 10.1002/tea.20398 Published online 3 December 2010 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). ß 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.