The Historical Story behind the Discovery: How Does It Affect Students’ Attitude towards the Scientific Endeavor?

This study examined changes in students’ attitudes towards the scientific endeavor by exploring the impact of introducing historical stories and rationales into the science curriculum. The stories referred to discoveries by four scientists: Galvani (the discovery of the electrical current), Fleming (the discovery of penicillin), Archimedes (the discovery of the floating principle), and Kekulé (the discovery of the structure of the benzene ring). The participants comprised 542 Arab students from northern Israel between the ages of 12 and 16. Out of the 542 students, 270 studied a curriculum that included historical stories approach (the experimental group), and 272 studied a curriculum without historical stories approach (the control group). A questionnaire was used to examine the students’ attitudes towards the scientific endeavor. The results provide evidence for the view that relating the story behind the discovery significantly improves students’ attitudes towards science in comparison with those who study according to a traditional approach. The students noticed that certain circumstances must be present in order to enable a scientist to make his discovery. The main conclusion is that the scientific curriculum should include adequate scientific subject matter, integrating historical stories in order to encourage students to develop positive attitudes towards and perceptions of science.