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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 14, Issue 2, Article 12 (Dec., 2013) |
Interest or attitude toward chemistry and other sciences
Attitude and academic achievement are important outcomes of science education. The development of students' positive attitudes toward science as a school subject is one of the major responsibilities of every science teacher. Unfortunately researches have revealed that much of what goes on in science classrooms is not particularly attractive to students across all ages (Stark & Gray, 1999; Cheung, 2009).
An attitude may be defined as a predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given attitude object (Oskamp & Schultz, 2005).
Attitude towards chemistry or science denotes interests or feelings towards studying chemistry or science. It is the students' disposition towards like or 'dislike' science while attitude in science means scientific approach assumed by an individual for solving problems, assessing ideas and making decisions.
Student beliefs and attitudes have the potential to either facilitate or inhibit learning (Yara, 2009). Many factors could contribute to student's attitude toward studying science specifically, chemistry. Several studies were done (Wilson, 1983; Soyibo, 1985; Berg 2005; Adesoji, 2008) showing students' positive attitude towards learning science tend to decrease in the following order: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
Defiane (1995) found that using integrated science environment activities improved high school students' attitude and awareness about the environment. Armstrong and Impara (1991) reported that fifth and seventh grade students using nature as supplement to the curriculum developed more positive attitudes toward the subject than those who did not. On a separate study, Ayelaagbe (1998) reported a more positive attitude towards studies after exposing students to self-learning strategy. Similar results were obtained by Udousoro (2002) after using computer and text-assisted programmed instruction and Popoola (2002) after exposing students to a self-learning device. Popoola (2008) also reported that students attitudes and interests in sciences, especially Agricultural science correlate highly with their science achievement.
Halladyna and Shanghnessy (1982) and Adesoji (2008) identified factors related to students' attitude towards science specifically chemistry. Such factors include teaching methods, teacher attitude, influence of parents, gender, age, cognitive styles of students, career interest, social view of science and scientific world, social implication of science and achievement.
