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

Pretest and posttest for attitude toward science domain of science teaching were administered to students in both experimental and control groups. The pretests were spread over a two week interval prior to the beginning of the experiment. The posttests were conducted one semester later following the instruction. The attitude and perception data were collected as a way of closing the semester. In general, an emphasis upon assessment and student change as evidenced by pretesting and posttesting was maintained as a normal part of science instruction. Figure 2 is a list of differences between STS instruction and textbook-oriented instruction:

Figure 2: Comparison of Instructional Strategies Characterizing STS and Textbook-Oriented Classes

Textbook-Oriented	STS
Textbook visible and used frequently	Textbook used only when it is needed as source of information
Teachers provide information for students to record and to repeat on tests	Teachers assist students in finding answer to their own questions; teachers rarely provide information
Activities are all prescribed, including goals, procedures, and often results	Students plan activities as a way of testing their own ideas and explanations
No focus on current problems and issues	Current problems and issues often provide the context of the study
Science defined by what information is included in the text	Science defined as questions, possible answers to questions, and testing the possible answers which emerge
Teachers plan each lesson carefully	Teachers focus on goals and involve students in planning activities, actions, and source of information
Students doing what text and teacher direct them to do	Students proposing actions, information sources, and new questions
Focus upon words and terms from textbook	Terms rarely used as a focus by themselves; special terms are used only after meaning has been established
Ideas and information are presented for mastery	Ideas and information sought out to respond to issues and questions
No use of newspaper and periodicals	Frequent use of news current reports and current situations
Much work on text and teacher-prepared worksheets	No work on text and teacher-prepared worksheets
Science not viewed as operating in the school and/or community; i.e., no local relevance	Nearly all questions, issues, and class activities have a base and a relevance at the local level
Much time spent by teacher in preparing lessons	Students involved as much as (if not more than) teacher in preparing for individual lesson
Class discussion and laboratories focus on competition and getting right answer	Discussion and laboratories focus on responding to issues, questions, and problems
Quizzes and tests focus on student recall	Evaluation focuses on what students can do; i.e. , how they can use information and skills

(Yager, 1996, 2000, 2001, NSTA, 1990).