A Validity Study of Attitudes toward Science Scale among Iranian Secondary School Students

Abstract

<p>The purpose of this study is providing a scale for measuring attitudes toward science among Persian secondary school students. A total of 300 (150 girls and 150 boys) of second grade students from all disciplines including science and mathematics in secondary education, participated in the study. Research instrument was, translated Persian version of Simpson – Troost Attitude Questionnaire (STAQ). After performing the scale among the sample, the data was analyzed by SPSS software. The reliability of questionnaire was found to be .84. Factor analysis indicated that more than 35.8% of the total variance was explained with the scale scores. After factor rotation, five factors of attractiveness of science, the class / teacher, self-directed efforts, anxiety toward science and the family pattern were identified. Thus it was shown that the scale is multidimensional and the dimensions have appropriate reliability and validity to measure attitudes toward science, so this instrument could be used in the next Persian research in measuring attitudes toward science. Multivariate Analysis (MANOVA) of data showed that there is no significant difference between sex and students’ attitudes toward science. But in the third factor (self-directed efforts) was a significant difference between sex and students’ attitudes toward science and the average of female students were higher than male students. Test results also showed that there is significant different between discipline of students and their attitudes to science and attitudes of empirical science students have the better attitudes than themselves, while science students in first factors (attractiveness of science) and in second factor (class / Teacher), had mean higher average than mathematical physics students.</p

Evaluation of Student’s Attitude Toward Science in Indonesia

“…Facts show that the attitude of students is one of the key factors in learning science (Liaghatdar, Soltani & Abedi, 2011). An attitude is a form of expression or student response to learning objects.…”

“…Students' attitudes toward science learning in heterogeneous groups are not influenced by different backgrounds and cultures (Narmadha & Chamundeswari, 2013). Liaghatdar, Soltani and Abedi (2011) important, because attitudes can influence the achievements and performance of students very well. Pamungkas, Subali & Lunuwih (2017) consider that natural science education is an effort or process to give knowledge to students about the nature of science.…”

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“…Again Liaghatdar, Soltani and Abedi (2011) reported in their study that anxiety towards science accounted for 3.59% of the variance explained. The factor liking for chemistry experiments explained 7.19% of the variance.…”

“…This intimates that the factor that makes students' attitudes students more positive toward electrochemistry and attracts them to chemistry is liking or interest in electrochemistry. Liaghatdar, Soltani and Abedi (2011) found that science is fun accounted for 16.76% of the variance explained in a validity study of attitude toward science. The factors evaluative/behavioral beliefs and chemistry anxiety with 12.69% and 9.89% of variance respectively also play a significant role in the attitude of students toward electrochemistry.…”

Analisis Sikap Siswa SMP Terhadap Mata Pelajaran Ipa

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