TABLE 6.

Measurement structures used to assess interest in biology

Type of interest measurement	Description of interest measurement	No. of papers using	Examples of items or scales from each measurement type
Single item	Single items were used to probe student interest. Reports of interest were based on only one item.	25	To carry out experiments with plants (e.g., on factors affecting germination and growth) is interesting for me.Response options: 0 = disagree, 1 = partially agree, 2 = mostly agree, 3 = agree.a What do you think about planting and sowing seeds? (Circle what you agree with most) Response options: Very enjoyable, Quite enjoyable, Boring, Very boring.b
Single aspect	Questionnaires used multiple items to measure a single aspect of interest. Reports of interest were based on a sum or average of these items.	21	How interested are you in devoting time and effort to studying and learning more about each of the skills listed below? The role of energy and equilibrium in cellular reactions Posttranslational mechanisms that regulate the function and degradation of proteins + 9 more items together interpreted as interest in cell biology topics Response options: 0 = Not at all interested, 1 = Only slightly interested, 2 = Fairly interested, 3 = Quite interested, 4 = Extremely interested.c
Multi-aspect	Questionnaires using multiple items that addressed different aspects of interest. For example, items could address affect, value, and whether students would like to learn a topic, or more diverse aspects such as anxiety, interest, curiosity, and behavior. Reports of interest were based on a sum or average of these disparate items.	19	Biology classes are a lot of fun for me. I am tense during biology classes. I always learn interesting information during biology classes. I would like to be a biology teacher in the future. Response options: 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).d
Multidimensional scales	Questionnaires that explicitly define interest as a multidimensional construct and measure several distinctly different dimensions of interest using separate psychometrically tested subscales each with their own items. These often probed affect and value related dimensions of interest.	4	Affect dimension I enjoy the subject of biology. I like biology. Biology is exciting to me. Value dimension Biology is practical for me to know. Biology helps me in my daily life outside of school. Thinking biologically is an important part of who I am. Response options: 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very true).e
Unknown	Reviewed papers did not provide enough information to classify the questionnaire.	7	—

^aHolstermann et al., 2010.

^bNyberg and Sanders, 2014.

^cKitchen et al., 2007.

^dKubiatko et al., 2017.

^eLinnenbrink-Garcia et al., 2010; Heddy and Sinatra, 2017.