Improving science achievement by raising self-esteem

last updated:October 2007

We chose this study because it showed the positive effects of focusing students on improving their levels of effort. When teachers rewarded students’ effort and participation, this led to improvement in the students’ attainment.

The study took place in an urban secondary school in a deprived area. Nearly 80% of students had reading scores at least two years below their chronological age on entry to the school. The study focused on groups of bottom set science students as they moved from Year 8 through Year 9. It aimed to boost self-esteem, oral contributions during lessons and overall attainment in science by using a reward system. The teacher used a wide range of additional strategies for improving student participation in the lessons.

The teacher aimed to consistently reward attempts to answer questions in science lessons by awarding a sticker. The collection of twenty stickers by any student led to a merit award; forty led to a certificate and a letter home and sixty stickers won the student a prize, a special certificate and a letter home. The teacher used the stickers frequently, especially for students who were initially reluctant to answer, and he gave double rewards for scientific answers. He aimed to encourage all students to participate and to think and attached no blame to ‘wrong’ answers. He accepted all contributions, no matter how ‘correct’ they were. If students did not understand, he took responsibility for this, saying, “I haven’t explained that very well”, rather than, “You weren’t listening”.

The teacher encouraged the students to talk to one another, by setting oral and explanation tasks in every lesson. He encouraged work in pairs and groups. Every lesson had a short period of paired work in it. He demonstrated good listening skills in order to teach students how to work well in pairs. He encouraged students to give positive feedback to one another. He taught them to ask for and to offer help to one another. He varied the pace and tasks in lessons and set clear learning objectives.  These were expressed by using phrases such as: “By the end of the lesson, you should be able to/know/understand…” He also encouraged students to identify their own and others’ strengths and to set themselves personal targets for improvement.

The students involved in the project greatly increased their involvement in question and answer sessions. They remembered the key scientific facts they had studied and their scores on module tests improved. Although the students’ scores on a test of general self-esteem did not show a significant improvement, they made many positive comments about their progress and ability in science as the study progressed. For example, students made comments such as:

• 'Science is my best subject.'
• 'She’s a super scientist like me now, sir.'

Students were able to remember the learning strategies outlined to them during the project. They also showed an improved attitude to science and there was a great reduction in disruptive behaviour during the course of the project.

Reference: Dunsmore, A. (1997) Improving science achievement by raising self-esteem (PDF, 140kb). Published by the Teacher Training Agency as part of the Teacher Research Grant Scheme 1996/97.