Change in student beliefs about attitudes toward science in grades 6-9

“Lead teachers” are experienced and successful STS teachers who become members of the instructional staff for lead new Chautauqua Professional Development efforts which operate for a given academic year in Iowa. They offer assistance in planning a new instructional series at each of as many as five sites across the state. In addition, these “lead” teachers agree to participate in annual research efforts with their own students. Twelve such teachers agreed to provide pretest and posttest data for this study to respond to the following questions in terms of attitude toward science.

1. Do students who experience their science in an STS format excel in terms of attitude toward science over students who experience science in a more typical textbook-oriented format?

2. After experiencing science in an STS format, are there any differences in attitude toward science between male and female students?

3. After experiencing science in an STS format, do STS high ability students excel in terms of more positive attitudes toward science over textbook-oriented high ability students?

4. After experiencing science in an STS format, do STS low-ability students excel more in terms of attitude toward science over textbook-oriented low ability students?