Middle school students’ attitudes toward science, scientists, science teachers and classes

Introduction

Students’ attitude towards science is one of the crucial elements that have a major role to motivate students in order to continue their studying in science. On the other hand, several studies (Kind, Jones & Barmby, 2007; Potvin & Hasni, 2014) advocate that number of students, who is eager to study in science related branches, is decreasing. In other words, current students do not hold positive attitudes and beliefs about science which, is bad news for next generations. There are many reasons for this conclusion such as teachers, learning environments (schools), age and even gender. In related literature, there are studies which investigate attitudes toward science with respect to gender (Hill, Corbett & Rose, 2010), age (Osborne, Simon & Tytler, 2009) and teaching method (Beauchamp & Parkinson, 2008). Although there are many studies about it, there is no consensual meaning for ‘attitude’ (Gardner, 1975; Kind et al., 2007; Osborne, Simon & Collins, 2003) due its complex nature that involves multiple properties from different domains (Zhang & Campbell, 2011). Osborne et al. (2003) define attitude towards science as “feeling, beliefs and values held about an object that might be enterprise of science, school science, and the impact of science on society or scientists themselves” (p. 1053). Furthermore some researchers (e.g. Ajzen, 2001; Crano & Prislin, 2006) state that attitudes are formed based on an individual’s personal estimations. Kind et al. (2007) advocate that attitude is judging something along with emotional feelings like having an idea such as good or bad, lovely or beastly. Based on these kinds of definitions and studies in the literature, Reid (2006) states that attitude involves three main components which are cognitive, affective and behavioral and they are related to each other. Cognitive component is introduced as knowledge about an event, object or something like that. Affective component is defined as feeling or emotion about the object (e.g. like or dislike) and lastly, behavioral component is identified as a tendency towards action for the object.

Although attitudes are not much open to change and develop (Reid, 2006), it is attractive topic to investigate for researchers since “they are long-lived, are learned and be taught, and related to behavior” (Young, 1998, p.97). To determine which factors have an impact on someone’s attitude towards science, researchers developed some basic criteria. For instance, Kind et al. (2007) asserted that, due to its complex nature, attitudes toward science can be measured based on the agents such as “learning science in school, practical work in science, science outside of school, importance of science, self-concept in science and future participation in science” (p. 877). Osborne et al. (2003, p.1054) collocate some factors, which have an impact on attitudes towards science, as following “(i) anxiety towards science, (ii) self-esteem at science, (iii) motivation towards science, (iv) enjoyment of science, (v) attitudes of peers, friends and parents toward science, (vi) achievement in science and (vii) fear of failure on course”. These cognitive and affective components have a role on behavior of an individual as attitude towards science. Furthermore not only these components but also school science curriculum (Hurd, 1991; Khishfe & Boujaoude, 2016) and social environment, communication with each other, students’ personalities and characters, needs and interests are other factors (Haste, 2004; Lemke, 2001; Roberts, 2002) that have an impact on attitudes toward science.

Effects of Some Basic Factors on Attitude towards Science
There are several studies which investigate the impacts of gender, age and socio-cultural variations on individuals’ attitudes towards science. For example, Baram-Tsabari and Kaadni (2009) designed a study that aims to describe the similarities and differences in the science interests of males and females from Israeli and Arab Middle Eastern Countries. They found that science interests are different with respect to age and gender but there is no meaningful difference between participants from Israeli and Arab Middle Eastern Countries. They concluded that boys are more interested in physics and technology, while girls are eager to learn about biology. The difference in tendency towards science topics between girls and boys are also studied by Haste (2004) and Haste, Muldoon, Hogan and Brosnan (2008). Based on the findings of such studies, it is difficult to advocate that boys have more positive attitudes toward science than girls or vice versa. There are some studies (Miller, Blessing & Schwartz, 2006; Ramsden, 1998; Simpson & Oliver, 1985) which show that girls’ attitudes toward science is more negative than boys’. On the contrary, there are also studies which indicate opposite results (Weinburgh, 1995; Tal, Geier & Krajcik, 2000) or show that there is no meaningful difference attitudes toward science based on gender (Barrington & Hendricks, 1988; Çokadar & Külçe, 2008). Although there are contradictive results in related literature, gender is probably one of the most significant variables about pupils’ attitudes toward science since children expose to gender and ethnic issues almost every day from different sources such as TV programs, books, computer games, etc. Moreover scientists are usually assumed as men, spectacled and individuals who wear white-coat (Kaya, Doğan & Öcal, 2008). In order to enable girls more successful at science courses, it is crucial for helping them to develop more positive attitudes toward science (Jarvis & Pell, 2005).

On the other hand, many studies done in Europe and North America concluded that most of students’ interests and attitudes toward science arise before the age of 14 (Osborne & Dillon, 2008). Moreover there are studies (Greenfield, 1996; Pell & Jarvis, 2001; Penick & Yager, 1982; Stark & Gray, 1999; Tal et al., 2000) which show that pupils’ attitudes toward science decreases from grade 6 to grade 10 respectively. In another study, Sjoberg and Schreiner (2005) found that adolescents in Europe are not eager to continue their careers in science due to low interests and attitudes toward it. Based on these conclusions, it can be said that the interest and positive attitudes of pupils toward science generally decrease age (or grade level). The reasons of such result might be (i) the change of students’ interests from school related activities to non-school activities when they get older, (ii) low achievement in school related works, (iii) not offering many opportunities for students to enjoy science and (iv) studying science just for passing the course (Yager, 1996).

Other than gender and age differences, parents and classroom environments such as relationship with other students and teachers, participation into learning process and content, structure and mode of delivery of school science curriculum also have a strong impact on students’ success in and attitudes toward science (Boon, 2012; George, 2000; Hurd, 1991; Khishfe & Boujaoude, 2016; Papanastasiou, 2002; Perera, 2014; Simpson & Oliver, 1990; Sun, Bradley & Akers, 2012; Şentürk & Özdemir, 2014). Whereas a few of these studies (e.g. Çokadar & Külçe, 2008) state that parents and social environment do not have an effect on science achievement and attitude towards it, most of other studies (Papanastasiou, 2002; Perera, 2014; Simpson & Oliver, 1990; Sun et al. 2012) state that these variables are crucial factors for students in order to be successful in science related topics and to have positive attitude towards them. The study done by George and Kaplan (1998) suggest that improving the quality of science instruction and activities in schools will have implications for science education in schools and this will, in turn, indirectly affect the science attitudes of students. Furthermore they also provide evidence that parents play a very important role in the development of science attitudes of students.

Purpose of Study and Research Questions

Having high national standards and economic well-being are usually based on highly educated, well trained and adaptable workforce (Osborne et al., 2003). Recently, the decreasing in number of students who choose their careers to continue in science related areas reveals a serious threat to a nation’s economic well-being. Due to the fact that there is a linear relationship between science achievement and attitude towards science, it is vital to enable students to have positive attitudes toward science. This will, in turn, affect a nation’s future. That’s why, studies about students’ attitudes toward science and other related concepts are important.

Such kinds of studies are one of the popular topics in national literature of Turkey. There are studies which investigate the effects of teaching methods (Akcay, Yager, Iskander & Turgut, 2010; Akınoğlu & Özkardeş Tandoğan, 2007; Aktamış & Ergin, 2008; Gök, Doğan, Doymuş & Karaçöp, 2009; Özyılmaz Akamca & Hamurcu, 2005; Yenice, 2003), science centers (Bozdoğan & Yalçın, 2006, 2009; Şentürk & Özdemir, 2014; Tereci, Aydın & Orbay, 2008), gender, age, school environment and socio-economic status (Akpınar, Yıldız, Tatar & Ergin, 2009; Çokadar & Külçe, 2008; Saka & Kıyıcı, 2004) on students’ achievements in and attitudes toward science. This study is different from others since it involves much more students, who are from different regions of Turkey, and it examines not only students’ attitudes toward science but also evaluates their attitudes toward science teachers and classes and usefulness of science. Furthermore the study provides evidences about the impacts of schools’ facilities and learning environments from different regions of Turkey on pupils’ attitudes toward science and other related concepts. With this respect, in national perspective, the study provides strong evidences for science educators, education politicians and educational psychologists about students’ attitudes toward science and other related concepts. In international perspective, studies about attitudes toward science address researchers to conduct similar research designs in their own countries and to compare their findings with international studies’ results. Based on these, the study aims to investigate students’ attitudes toward science, scientist, science teachers and classes and usefulness of science with respect to their regional differences, genders and grade levels. Three basic research questions given below were developed in order to reach the aim.

Do middle school students from different regions of Turkey have different attitudes toward science, scientists, science teachers and classes?
Is there a meaningful difference in students’ attitudes toward science, scientists, science teachers and classes with respect to their gender?
Do middle school students from different grades (from fourth grade to eighth grade) have different attitudes toward science, scientists, science teachers and classes?