Students’ Attitudes Toward Chemistry Lessons: The Interaction Effect between Grade Level and Gender

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the interaction effect between grade level and gender with respect to students' attitudes toward chemistry lessons taught in secondary schools. The sample consisted of 954 chemistry students in grades Secondary 4-7 (approximately 16-19 years of age) in Hong Kong. Students' attitudes were surveyed using an attitude toward chemistry lessons scale (ATCLS), and subscale scores were produced on four dimensions: liking for chemistry theory lessons; liking for chemistry laboratory work; evaluative beliefs about school chemistry; and behavioral tendencies to learn chemistry. When the ATCLS data were subjected to two-way MANOVA, the interaction effect between grade level and gender on students' attitudes toward chemistry lessons was statistically significant. The interaction effect was attributable to scores on the theory lessons subscale and laboratory work subscale. Male students in Secondary 4 and 5 liked chemistry theory lessons more than their female counterparts. However, male students' liking for chemistry laboratory work declined when they progressed from Secondary 4 to Secondary 7; no such a significant decline in attitude toward chemistry laboratory work was found in females. Overall, both males and females were just marginally positive about chemistry lessons during the years of secondary schooling. Implications of these findings for curriculum design are discussed.

Finnish Students’ Engagement in Science Lessons

“…Barnes, McInerney & Marsh, 2005). Gender differences also seem to be influenced by the learning method and the content of the lesson (Cheung, 2009). In biology, students' success corresponds with their positive attitudes (Uitto, 2014), self-efficacy and interest and the subject's importance (Uitto & Kärnä, 2014).…”

Estudio transversal de las actitudes hacia la ciencia en estudiantes de grados quinto a undécimo. Adaptación y aplicación de un instrumento de actitudes

“…La mayoría de estudios actitudinales corresponden a estudios puntuales, pero pocos a estudios a lo largo de la etapa escolar (Tekbiyik y Akdeniz, 2010, Wang y Berlin, 2010, Cheung, 2009, Vázquez y Manassero, 2008y Salta y Tzougraki, 2004, y mucho menos a nivel local en Colombia. Las investigaciones muestran que existen dos resultados recurrentes sobre actitudes hacia la ciencia: el declive de las actitudes hacia la ciencia escolar al acercarse a grados superiores y las diferencias relevantes entre las actitudes de niños y niñas, (Hofstein y Mamlok, 2011, Cheung, 2009y Vázquez y Manassero, 2008. Aunque estos resultados son comunes en diversos estudios, estos no son comparables; así, por ejemplo, al utilizar una escala numérica de actitud de 1 a 5, un valor de 3,5 en un lugar no puede afirmarse que sea una mejor actitud que la correspondiente a un 3,3 en otro.…”

“…En particular, las actitudes hacia las ciencias están estrechamente ligadas con los logros académicos (Kurbanoglu y Akim, 2010y Cukrowska, Staskun y Schoeman, 1999, y el desarrollo de actitudes positivas en los estudiantes hacia las disciplinas científicas cons tituye una de las grandes responsabilidades de cada profesor de ciencias (Cheung, 2009). Algunos investigadores, como Cukrowska, Staskun y Schoeman (1999) y Freedman (1997), encuentran que una buena actitud es correspondiente con un mejor desempeño académico.…”

Constructing a Scale of Attitudes toward School Science Using the General Graded Unfolding Model

“…A 50-item (25 positive, 25 negative) scale with 4-point response format was prepared according to the related research (Cheung, 2009;George, 2006;Germann, 1988;Prokop et al, 2007;Salta and Tzougraki, 2004;& Siegel and Ranney, 2003) to represent the full range of attitude toward school science.…”