← Motivation InterventionsJiesi Guo
Participating schools

Thank you to our partner schools

This trial was only possible because six Victorian secondary schools opened their classrooms to research. We are grateful to their leaders, teachers, Year 9 students and families.

Gippsland Grammar
Iona College
The King David School
Luther College
Nagle College
Waverley Christian College
The sample

Who took part

855Year 9 students analyzed
401 / 454female / male students
14.7mean age in years
3 + 3rural (n = 480) and urban (n = 375) schools

All six are non-government schools from the Catholic and independent sectors in Victoria, each with an Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) above the national mean of 1,000. Rural schools are in regional Victoria and urban schools in metropolitan Melbourne. All participating students were in Year 9 and studying compulsory science.

Taking part

What participation involved

For the school

  • One session during scheduled Year 9 class time in Term 3, 2025.
  • Parent consent collected through the school’s own online consent platform.
  • A member of the research team attended to support students and handle technical issues.

For students

  • In one class session, a baseline motivation survey, then a 35-minute online activity, followed by the survey again.
  • Students gave their own assent before taking part.
  • Everything ran online in REDCap during class, with the STEMGuide chatbot on hand.

See what this trial found →

Interested in taking part in future studies?

We are always keen to hear from secondary schools interested in partnering on research into student motivation and STEM pathways.

Contact Professor Jiesi Guo