Examining Changing Attitudes in Secondary School Science
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 17 May 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in International Journal of Science Education
- Vol. 30 (8), 1075-1093
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09500690701344966
Abstract
This study, carried out in England, examined the variation of attitudes towards science over the first three years of secondary schooling and with gender. The study in question was part of an evaluation of the “Lab in a Lorry” project, and involved 932 pupils completing a pre‐measure questionnaire containing items looking at six separate attitude constructs. From these data, two main patterns emerged; pupils’ attitudes towards science declined as they progressed through secondary school, and this decline was more pronounced for female pupils. These conclusions are largely in agreement with previous studies in this field. However, in examining separate attitude constructs, we were also able to identify that the sharpest decline occurred specifically for pupils’ attitude towards learning science in school. Furthermore, using linear regression, we identified that, as pupils progress through school, this construct becomes a greater influence on attitudes towards future participation in science. Therefore, we also concluded that learning science in school is a particular area that needs to be concentrated upon, if we are to improve children’s attitudes towards science. In the final part of the paper, we drew on interview data obtained from 44 pupils involved in the Lab in a Lorry study. Pupils’ comments in these interviews provided further insight into why pupils are “switched off” by school science. We drew out the most prevalent themes that emerged in the interviews, in order to provide further insight into why pupils do not enjoy science in school.Keywords
This publication has 39 references indexed in Scilit:
- Developing Attitudes towards Science MeasuresInternational Journal of Science Education, 2007
- Developing attitude to science scales for use with children of ages from five to eleven yearsInternational Journal of Science Education, 2001
- The development and use of an instrument to assess students' attitude to the study of chemistryInternational Journal of Science Education, 2001
- Nature and Operation of AttitudesAnnual Review of Psychology, 2001
- Predicting the choice of physics in secondary educationInternational Journal of Science Education, 2000
- Measuring Attitude Towards Science Among Secondary School Students: the affective domainResearch in Science & Technological Education, 1999
- Gender issues in physics educationEducational Research, 1998
- The dimensionality of attitude scales: a widely misunderstood ideaInternational Journal of Science Education, 1996
- Physics in upper secondary schools in DenmarkInternational Journal of Science Education, 1988
- Gender differences in science: parallels in interest, experience and performanceInternational Journal of Science Education, 1987