Effects of emotions, grade level and gender on pseudoscience beliefs of secondary school students

Secondary education plays an important role in scientific literacy and, in it, beliefs in pseudoscience have a great relevance. For this reason, the objectives of this study focused on the evaluation of the level of adherence to pseudoscience beliefs of secondary school students, and on the analysis of the influence of gender, grade level and emotions generated in the science classroom on these beliefs. A total of 125 students from three different grades of Spanish secondary education (9th, 10th and 11th grade, between 14 and 17 years old) participated. Two questionnaires, one to evaluate pseudoscientific beliefs, and the other to determine the positive and negative emotions experienced in the science classroom, were administered to participants. From the results obtained through an analysis of the correlations between variables and a regression analysis, it can be concluded that: a) the level of pseudoscience beliefs of students is medium-low and comparable to that of other countries; b) only negative emotions and grade level of students have a significant influence on pseudoscience beliefs, and both have a similar contribution to the variability of these beliefs.