Attitudes towards science among senior secondary students in Fiji

Naiker, Mani; Sharma, Bibhya N.; Wakeling, Lara; Johnson, Joel B.; Mani, Janice S.; Kumar, Bijeta; Naidu, Anji; Khan, Mohammad G.M.; Brown, Stephen

doi:10.15663/wje.v25i0.704

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…There have been previous studies on student attitude toward science (including several studies looking at chemistry specifically) in this regional population, for example, Naiker et al (2020a) used Test Of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) to evaluate the attitude of secondary Fijian students toward science, finding a generally positive attitude, although differences were observed based on gender and ethnicity. Also, Sharma et al (2021) found slightly poorer attitudes among secondary Tongan students, although there was no difference between genders in this population.…”

Section: Attitude and Student Achievement In The South Pacific Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific

et al. 2022

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Student attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the correlation between attitude toward chemistry and achievement amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students from The University of the South Pacific (USP). A cluster analysis was used to identify low- and high-achieving groups of students to further explore potential correlations. There was a positive correlation between the cognitive and affective components of attitude among low-achieving students, but not among high-achieving students. The cognitive component of attitude did not appear to be strongly correlated with achievement in students from either group, although the affective component was positively correlated with achievement. The single item most strongly correlated with student achievement was their response on the Worthless-Beneficial scale. One of the notable findings was the differences in the attitude-achievement relationship between low-achieving and high-achieving students, suggesting that combining these clusters of students into a single group for analysis may obscure underlying correlations. Chemistry educators should continue to target their teaching styles to cater to different learning styles and achievement levels of students, including cognitive and non-cognitive learning styles.

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Section: Attitude and Student Achievement In The South Pacific Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific

et al. 2022

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“…These conditions do not necessarily mean that a student is always liable for his or her poor achievement. However, to date, while there have been local studies assessing school teachers' preparedness for mathematics [57] and secondary students' attitude in science [25] and ICT [58,59], there has been no research carried out locally to assess students' attitude and perception toward mathematics. This requires views from students, teachers, heads of departments, and school heads to gain deeper insights into students' lack of interest and low achievement in mathematics at the senior grades of secondary schools in Fiji.…”

Section: Attitude and Perception Of Students Toward Mathematicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the highly decorated and recognized importance of mathematics and the fact that it is the prerequisite for most of the subjects, poor achievement and lack of interest in mathematics (and STEM) among students remains as an issue of concern in schools, colleges, and universities in developed and developing countries alike [22][23][24][25]. Mathematics continues to be one of the most challenging subjects in schools as perceived by students [7,[26][27][28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to this, there was an increase in mathematically underprepared students enrolling in undergraduate courses leading to curtailed enrollments and low pass rates in higher education (HE) institutes. Fiji with three major higher education institutions, namely, The University of the South Pacific, The Fiji National University, and The University of Fiji face the same challenge of decline in the quantity and quality of applicants enrolling for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses due to low pass rates in mathematics at years 12 and 13 national examinations [22,25,28,35]. Many Fijian students fail to meet the basic entry requirements for HE institutions in STEM courses that require either a pass or a higher cutoff mark in mathematics [36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceived Causes of Students’ Poor Performance in Mathematics: A Case Study at Ba and Tavua Secondary Schools

Chand¹,

Chaudhary

Prasad

et al. 2021

Front. Appl. Math. Stat.

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Poor achievement in mathematics is an issue of great concern for many countries across the globe. Fiji is one of the countries in the South Pacific experiencing the same trends, pressures, and concerns. This study aims to seek the views of stakeholders (students, teachers, heads of departments, and school heads) with regards to the causes of poor achievement in mathematics at the senior grades of secondary schools in the districts of Ba and Tavua, Fiji. A descriptive design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized whereby data were collected from 201 upper secondary school respondents comprising 171 students, 16 mathematics teachers, 7 department heads, and 7 school heads from seven randomly selected schools in the districts of Ba and Tavua. The study found that the students had a negative attitude toward mathematics. It was also found that an ineffective mathematics curriculum in secondary schools was the reason behind poor performance in the subject. Moreover, many of the primary school teachers lacked potential and competence to teach mathematics at primary school levels, and this largely contributed toward the lack of interest amongst students, hence translating into poor achievement at both upper and lower secondary levels. On the other hand, however, it was gathered that secondary school teachers were rather positive, good quality, performing, and fully qualified as far as the teaching of mathematics and delivery of the subject matter was concerned. Review and amendments to the year 12 and 13 mathematics curriculum, use of technologies to teach mathematics, improving the quality of primary school mathematics teachers, reducing the emphasis on exams, introducing internal assessments, projects, and field work in the mathematics curriculum were a few of the significant recommendations made from this study.

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“…Despite the extensive recognition of mathematics as a useful subject that builds on our cognitive and intuitive abilities to address the problems of the reality, it is thus critical to highlight that low achievement and interest in mathematics among students in both developed and developing countries continue to be a source of concern to academics and policymakers [13,14] According to the report, "most African countries have inferior primary and secondary mathematics education, limiting the potential population of outstanding people who pursue mathematical degrees at the university level" [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ Poor Mathematics Performance in Ghana: Are there Contributing Factors?

Fokuo¹,

Lassong

Kwasi

2022

AJESS

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Background: Evidence suggests mathematics is a field of learning that drives the global educational curriculum. Mathematics is viewed as interlinked to the technological and scientific knowledge pool. Mathematics is taught as a core subject in senior high school in Ghana to boast the students’ abilities in solving problems. However, there is limited evidence on factors influencing poor mathematics performance by Ghanaian Senior High School students. Aim: This paper investigates the factors which contribute to poor mathematics performance and attempts to give a feasible policy direction to improve performance and scale-up mathematic scare in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. Method: A quantitative survey approach was used to conduct the study. Four hundred and Forty (440) senior high school students were sampled from form one to form three in Kumasi Metropolis. The sample size comprised 240 girls and 200 boys. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate the results of the study. Results: Findings from the study reveals that poor mathematics performance is attributed to three causes (i.) Lack of coverage of mathematics curriculum content, (ii). Lack of interest in mathematics, and (iii). the belief that they cannot understand mathematics. Conclusion: We recommend the syllabus should be revised by integrating and focusing on topics that build the mathematical know-how to solve real-life problem/issue counters.

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Attitudes towards science among senior secondary students in Fiji

Cited by 5 publications

References 37 publications

Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific

Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific

Perceived Causes of Students’ Poor Performance in Mathematics: A Case Study at Ba and Tavua Secondary Schools

Students’ Poor Mathematics Performance in Ghana: Are there Contributing Factors?

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