Teachers explicitly communicate the relevance, importance, and utility of science alongside curriculum content¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (2 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that teachers, individually and in subject teams, "consider carefully exactly how the relevance, importance, and utility of science can be emphasized alongside curriculum content." Suggested concrete moves include highlighting different types of scientific careers, highlighting examples of people who developed scientific careers from backgrounds similar to students', showing how a scientific approach to issues important to students' lives can be informative, and using student voice approaches to check that value messages were perceived as intended.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Messages must actually be perceived by students; the study's effects rest on class-aggregated student perceptions of shared messages

Constraints¶

• Broad generic messages about the importance and usefulness of science alone were insufficient to reduce effort cost; more task- or lesson-specific messages may be needed

Target Learners¶

• adolescent students in the first three years of secondary education

Target Learning Goals¶

• science motivation
• science achievement
• aspirations to study advanced science and pursue scientific careers

Affordances¶

• Sevt Situated Expectancy Value Theory Science Value Messages

Claims¶

• Class-aggregated perceived teacher value messages positively predict students' subsequent expectancy and utility value, but not lower effort cost [+W]
• Perceived teacher value messages indirectly predict achievement via utility value and aspirations via expectancy and utility value [+W]
• Perceived teacher value messages at the student level are unrelated to motivational beliefs after autoregressive controls [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Emphasize the Value of Learning
• Consider students' phase of interest when implementing UVIs, and consider combining them with interventions fostering beliefs that interest can develop
• Use generative AI to connect school subjects to students' immediate concerns and cross-domain applications rather than to core identity components

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• David W. Putwain, Andrea Mallaburn, Hanna Gaspard. (2026). Student perceptions of teacher messages about the value of science in the classroom. Learning and Instruction 104 (2026) 102365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2026.102365