Choosing Science: Understanding the declines in senior high school science enrolments

Abstract

The last two decades have seen significant declines in the proportions of high school students choosing senior physics, chemistry and biology courses in Australia. Concern has been expressed in many quarters about the implications of these declines for the supply of future scientists, the quality of the scientific endeavour in Australia and the levels of scientific literacy of its citizens. The 'Choosing Science' study represents a large-scale national attempt to understand the influences on Year 10 students' decisions about taking science subjects in Year 11. The study was undertaken in two phases. In Phase One, 589 secondary school science teachers were surveyed to identify their perceptions about the enrolment declines and students' deliberations. Findings from this survey informed Phase Two, a survey of 3759 Year 10 students who had recently chosen their subjects for Year 11.