The objective of this research is to discuss the scientific story intergrated in science curriculum about the students¡¦ attitude towards science and conceptions of the nature of science . This research made use of the Static-group comparison design method for use in quasi-experimental research. The first step was to collect the related scientific background and a scientists¡¦ information, and then create a fictitious story according to the situation in an experimental teaching process, and finally issue a questionnaire in order to understand the students¡¦ experience and conviction. Our research samples were 4 grade 5 classes from a school in Kaohsiung, selected as our test group. Our control groups were 5 classes chosen from another school in Kaohsiung City. We made use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis to collect the data and analyze the information, and the research included the original Questionnaire on the nature of science, Questionnaire on learning science, and an interview information sheet. The questionnaire on the nature of science was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the t-test to obtain a quantitative analysis. The questionnaire on learning science uses percentiles and inductive analysis to obtain a quantitative analysis, with an interview providing qualitative information. The research results indicated that the students enjoyed the fictitious story curriculum, and especially enjoyed hearing about the scientists¡¦ background, as the students believed the stories could assist them in their learning. The students¡¦ attitudes were found to be positive, as the stories were thought to assist them in their learning. Thus, the students were highly interested in the curriculum, though the attitude towards the image of the scientists was not as positive, as was their attitude towards science career planning. On the point of the nature of science, students in the test group were modern minded, and the test group achieved more than the control group. On the quantity and quality of the students¡¦ knowledge, there were significant differences between the test group and the control group. Therefore, the recommendation of this research is that teachers, if interested in this teaching approach, should attempt to collect information on the scientists and their backgrounds. Also, the history of science should be taught to training teachers during their teaching training program. This will assist the teacher in becoming an effective aid towards the students learning of science.

Using a mixed-method design, the purpose of this research was to understand interest in the elementary science classroom as affected by different teaching methods. Of particular concern was the state of interest in junior level (Grades 4-6) science classrooms. Research conducted on science interest and attitudes toward science has identified significant declines in student interest and engagement across grade levels. To remedy these concerns, it has become imperative that researchers and science educators gain a greater understanding of the growing literature in the field of interest and how this research might improve student engagement, especially at the elementary level. Questionnaires were administered to 178 students from Grades 4-6 measuring their individual interest in science, the frequency at which they were exposed to different teaching methods in science, and the level of interest they held for each instructional approach in science class. In addition, student interviews were conducted with six students from both genders representing each grade to better understand what makes for interesting and effective teaching of science in the eyes of the students. The quantitative and qualitative components yielded largely similar findings. Results indicated that passive learning tasks, such as written work and note taking, became less popular as grade level increased, that female students maintained a greater interest in passive learning tasks than males, and that passive learning tasks had the greatest impact on predicting student interest in science. Furthermore, students reported that they were best engaged by instructional strategies that were characterized by experimentation, cooperation, relevance, and novelty. These results were used to shed light on previous research in the field, and to suggest directions for future research and practice. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-09 11:04:44.967

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Henry Braun / There is a broad interest in narrowing achievement gaps among all groups of students and improving education by scientifically sound methods. On October 25, 2006, the United States Department of Education published new regulations allowing single-sex education in public schools whenever schools think it will improve student achievement. Thus far, studies comparing single-sex with coeducational schools have been carried out at the national level mostly in England, Australia and Jamaica, while US' studies were limited to Catholic schools. Few studies reported descriptive statistics or effect sizes and most studies differ in the criteria and statistical controls they use to compare single-sex and coeducation. This dissertation presents models for science achievement and attitudes towards science for 8th -grade students attending either single-sex or coeducation schools in Hong Kong and New Zealand, using the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) datasets from 1995, 1999, and 2003. To properly account for the nested structure of data, an HLM model was estimated for each sex, for each of the two jurisdictions at three time points, corresponding to the three TIMSS administrations. The within - country results were compared to see if differences between single-sex and coed schools were consistent over time. In addition, this dissertation proposed an approach to examine the sensitivity of the estimated effects of school-type on student outcomes to the presence of unmeasured variables which may introduce hidden selection bias, using a modification of the method proposed by Rosenbaum and Rubin (1983). Based on its conditional distribution with an instrumental variable, chosen based on the review of single-sex literature, the Monte Carlo simulated values of the unobserved variable were used as level-1 predictors in a one-way ANCOVA with random effects. The sensitivity analysis was limited to science achievement of Hong-Kong's girls in TIMSS 2003. Findings show that single-sex education contributed to girls' science performance and attitudes in NZL 1999 and HKG 1999 and 2003, and low sensitivity for school-type contrast. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of argumentation based instruction on sixth grade students

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of hands-on activity enriched instruction on sixth grade students&rsquo / achievement (on sense organs) and attitudes towards science. In this study, Science Achievement Test and Science Attitude Scale were used to assess students&rsquo / achievement on sense organs and students&rsquo / attitudes towards science, respectively. Also, hands-on activities about sense organs were prepared. This study was conducted with 2 teachers and 4 classes and total of 140 sixth grade students in the public elementary schools at Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren district of Ankara in the fall semester of 2002-2003 academic years. One class of each teacher was assigned as experimental group and treated with hands-on activity enriched instruction and other class was assigned as control group and treated with traditional instruction. At the beginning of the study, both teachers were trained for how to implement hands-on activity enriched instruction in the classrooms. The Science Achievement Test and The Science Attitude Scale were applied twice as pre-test and after three week treatment period as a post-test to both experimental and control groups to assess and compare the effectiveness of two different types of teaching utilized in science course. The data obtained from the administration of post-test were analyzed by statistical techniques of Multivariate Analyses of Covariance (MANCOVA). The statistical result indicates that hands-on activity enriched instruction was more effective than traditional instruction. However, the statistical results failed to show a significant difference between the experimental and control groups attitudes toward science.

Scientists are widely regarded as high status individuals, who are smarter than the vast majority of the population. Science holds a very high status as a discipline, both within and outside of academe. This notwithstanding, popular stereotypes of scientists are often highly negative, with the image of the socially inept or even mad scientist being commonplace. This apparent contradiction is worth exploring. Additionally, we see the label scientific being used to justify pseudoscience and other results that are flatly contradicted by the bulk of scientific research (e.g., links between vaccines and autism). This is not due, as some argue, only or even primarily to a lack of understanding of science. Ultimately, there are two "sciences": science defined by the scientific methodology of the scientists, and the broader cultural use of science as a truthteller without real use of scientific methodology. This dichotomy is wrapped up in both the nature of modernity and the idea of post-modernity. This research uses a content analysis of film to examine the nature of stereotypical portrayals of scientists, and a factor analysis of NSF survey data to investigate the complex attitudes towards science and scientists.

The purpose of this study was to investigate scientific epistemological beliefs, perceptions of constructivist learning environment, attitude towards science, prior knowledge and gender as determinants of students&rsquo / approaches to learning. This study was carried out in 2005-2006 Spring Semester. One thousand, one hundred and fifty two eighth grade students from seven public schools in &Ccedil / ankaya, a district of Ankara participated in this study. Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, Constructivist Learning Environment Scale, Learning Approaches Questionnaire and Attitude towards Science Scale were administered to students in order to determine their scientific epistemological beliefs, their perceptions of constructivist learning environments, approaches to learning and attitudes towards science respectively. Descriptive statistics were used in order to explore the general characteristics of the sample. Paired samples t-test was used in order to evaluate the mean difference iv between the scales of the actual and preferred learning environments. Pearson Correlation Analyses and Multiple Regression Analyses were conducted to see the relationships among the variables and the variables that contribute to students&rsquo / meaningful and rote learning approaches. Results of the paired samples t-test showed that the actual learning environments of the students did not adapt their preferences. In fact, students preferred more constructivist learning environments where they have more opportunity to relate science with the real world, communicate in the classroom, take role in the decision making process of what will go on in the lesson to be more beneficial for them, question what is going on in the lesson freely and experience the formulation of scientific knowledge. Pearson correlation analyses, however, showed that students who had meaningful learning orientations had tentative views of scientific epistemological beliefs, positive attitudes towards science, high prior knowledge and perceived their learning environments as constructivist. On the other hand, students who had rote learning approaches had fixed views of scientific epistemological beliefs, positive attitudes towards science and low prior knowledge. In addition, the rote learners perceived their environments as constructivist in all scales except shared control scale. Multiple Regression Analyses by using actual learning environment showed that attitude towards science is the best predictor of both meaningful and rote learning approaches.

This study aims to explore preschool teachers&#039 / attitudes toward science teaching and its impact on classroom practices through the frequency of science activities provided in the classroom. In addition, attitudes of preschool teachers&#039 / toward science were investigated in terms of affecting factors such as age, educational level, years of teaching experience, undergraduate course work on science, number of children in classroom, and the age group they work with. The present research was conducted with 292 preschool teachers who work in public and private schools in different districts of Ankara during the second semester of 2006-2007 academic years. The data were collected by administering Early Childhood Teachers&#039 / Attitudes toward Science Teaching Scale (ECTASTS). Analysis of the data indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between preschool teachers&#039 / attitudes toward science and the frequency of science activities that they provide in the classroom. Also, all factors were found highly related with the teachers&#039 / attitudes toward science teaching and the frequency of science activities except for age and in-service training.

The international and national assessment results indicated that Turkish students&rsquo / conceptual understanding in science and basic inquiry skills are far behind the expected levels. The reason of low achievement could be attributed to many sources such as family background characteristics, students&rsquo / attitudes, and teaching methodologies. The low socioeconomic environment in the school and crowded classrooms are important facts that should be somehow considered by the educational researchers. The way a teacher teaches in a crowded classroom is important to help students&rsquo / understanding of concepts and development of inquiry skills. The present study aimed to propose a methodology that helps teachers to enhance students&rsquo / understanding of concepts and develop inquiry skills in many schools with various socio-economic-status environments and large classrooms. The method proposed could be called as guided (teacher-directed) inquiry to develop concepts, skills, and affective characteristics of the students such as attitudes. This study was conducted with 168 sixth grade public elementary school students in Ankara in 2006-07 academic year. Repeated measures design was used in the study. Intact groups received either traditional or teacher-directed inquiry instructions. The students in both groups were measured with the unit achievement and science process skills tests, and attitudes toward science questionnaire before and after the instructions, and repeatedly after no treatment by a retention or delayed test. It was found that while the guided (teacher-directed) inquiry instruction made a difference on student achievement in the first unit (Reproduction, Development and Growth in Living Things), it could not make a difference on student achievement in the second unit (Force and Motion). The instruction also made a difference on students&rsquo / science process skills test performance and both the composite and individual attitude scores. It is concluded that guided (teacher-directed) inquiry instruction generally helps students&rsquo / understanding of science concepts and results with achievement in science. It helps students&rsquo / development of scientific skills with authentic experiences. Guided (teacher-directed) inquiry instruction also has an effect on students&rsquo / development of positive attitudes toward science and technology course, specifically on self-concept, anxiety, interest, career, enjoyment, and usefulness dimensions.