The purpose of this study was to examine fifth,
seventh, and tenth graders' attitudes toward school and
classroom science by means of questionnaires and
interviews. In particular, the study hoped to determine
(a) if a relationship existed between these two attitudes,
(b) what relationship, if any, grade level, gender,
ethnicity, school/community type, expected GPA and science
grade, and personally satisfying GPA and science grade had
with either or both of the attitudes, and (c) the source
of students' attitudes.
The questionnaires used in this study (Science
Attitude Scale for Middle School Students by Misiti,
Shrigley, and Hanson and one constructed by the author)
were found to be both valid and reliable. The surveys
were administered to approximately 1,000 fifth, seventh,
and tenth graders from schools representing rural, small
city, and urban communities at the commencement and near
the end of the schools' fall terms. After the second
administration of the questionnaires, 25 students,
representing each grade level from each community type,
were interviewed following a structured interview format.
The results indicated that while a statistically
significant relationship did exist between students'
attitudes toward school and toward classroom science, the
relationship had no practical meaning. Females were
slightly more positive about school than their male
counterparts. No gender differences were found with
respect to attitudes toward classroom science. Fifth
graders held significantly more positive attitudes toward
science than seventh and tenth graders. None of the other
variables were found to have any practical relationship to
either of the attitudes.
The interview data suggested that students from all
three grade levels had definite feelings about school and
classroom science, particularly about modes of
instruction, relevancy, their teachers, and the effect of
attitude on achievement. / Graduation date: 1992
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36319 |
| Date | 17 March 1992 |
| Creators | Morrell, Patricia Drozdowski |
| Contributors | Lederman, Norman G. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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