Primary school children are increasingly being turned off science.
Results from a national education monitoring project show 37% of students in their last year of primary school actively dislike the subject.
The results show the percentage of Year 8 students disliking science increased substantially over eight years from 15%. Only 5% would like to be scientists.
The decline is attributed partly to a failure of school science programmes to provide the activities, such as practical experiments, that children particularly enjoy.