Towards measuring and promoting motivation for biology among non-science-track students: a pilot study of questionnaire development and brief advanced biomedical research lessons embedded in regular biology classes

Motivating non-science-track high school students to study biology is challenging, and major curricular reform is rarely feasible. This two-month pilot study embedded seven Brief Advanced Biomedical Research Lessons (BABRLs), short lessons on cutting-edge biomedical research, within 19 regular biology classes for Grade 11 non-science-track high school students (n = 76) and included an initial validation of the provisional Japanese Biology Motivation Questionnaire (J-BioMot). An exploratory factor analysis identified problematic items and suggested four factors; however, consistent with prior research and the theoretical framework, six constructs, including motivation, goals and attitude-related constructs, were analysed separately. From pre-to post-intervention, both the factor structure and the pattern of inter-construct correlations were largely stable, with only a few exceptions, and standardised mean changes across the intervention were negligible. Complementary self-assessment questionnaires indicated that 72% of students reported increased motivation and 84% found the lessons useful, with those rating BABRLs as useful, showing slightly higher intrinsic motivation and mastery goal scores than those who did not. Power calculations indicate that a full trial would require at least 405 students to detect a minimally important difference of 0.30 SD. Future studies should refine and validate J-BioMot and evaluate BABRL’s effectiveness in promoting motivation for biology.