A large-scale longitudinal survey of participation in scientific events with a focus on students' learning motivation for science: Antecedents and consequences

The aim of the present research was to consider whether scientific events (i.e., opportunities in which participants engage in science-related activities) can contribute to resolving the decline in students' motivation to learn science. In order to do so, we combined longitudinal survey data and participation data from scientific events to investigate whether motivation to learn science was the antecedent and/or consequence of participating in said events. The results showed that students with mastery-approach goals and a deep approach to learning were more likely to participate in a scientific event. In addition, participating in such an event enhanced the development of mastery-approach goals and the deep approach to learning. These results imply that, although scientific events can contribute to developmental changes in students' motivation to learn science, they might attract few students from the whole population. We discuss the role of scientific events and what should be addressed in future research.