Indonesian Primary School and Middle School Students’ Attitudes Toward Science: Focus on Gender and Academic Level

Abstract

Student attitudes toward science have been one of the longstanding topics in science education research. Even though Indonesia has a unique educational system in which cultural, religious, and cognitive aspects are incorporated in the science K-12 curriculum, a limited number of studies have explored Indonesian students’ attitudes towards science. This research aimed to examine students’ attitudes toward science and the interaction between academic grade level and gender in Indonesian primary and middle school. Thirty items from five components of the BRAINS instrument were administered to 1587 Indonesian students from fourth grade through ninth grade to measure their attitude toward science. Rasch analysis, two-way ANOVA, and structural equation modeling path analysis were used to answer the proposed research questions. The current research found that Indonesian students’ attitudes toward science were significantly affected by academic level, however, gender only affected three components of attitude (control belief, attitude toward the behavior, and intention). Female students showed a higher attitude toward science than male students in general. The trends in every component of the students’ attitudes decreased from primary school to middle school. The present research provides a deeper discussion by considering the socio-cultural and educational history of Indonesia. Keywords: academic level, gender, middle school, primary school, science attitude.

Comprehensive Analysis of the Fort Instrument: Using Distractor Analysis to Explore Students’ Scientific Reasoning Based on Academic Level and Gender Difference

“…A report by PISA also highlighted gender differences to improve average performance and understand how students learn. Owing to the increased importance of gender equity in science, studies have noted the gender gap in the science education field, including academic self-efficacy (Huang, 2013;Sya'bandari et al, 2019), academic engagement and students' gender identity (Kessels et al, 2014), science self-concept (Jansen et al, 2014), and attitude toward science (Aini et al, 2019;Rusmana et al, 2021). It will also serve to understand academic achievement through scientific ISSN 1648-3898 /Print/ ISSN 2538-7138 /Online/ reasoning ability and address quality and equity concerns.…”

The Influence of Reading Fondness Characters on Students' Attitudes in Science Subjects in Junior High Schools

“…This study does not distinguish between male and female sex reading preferences and their effect on students' attitudes. Gender has a significant influence on student attitudes (Aini et al, 2019;Suryadi, Mirnawati, & Fadhilah, 2020). This research implies that students' reading habit has a positive influence on science.…”

“…Attitude is included in the affective domain in learning (Genc, Genc, & Rasgele, 2018;Novitasari & Wardani, 2020). The learning outcomes that students get are inseparable from how positive attitudes are towards science subjects (Aini, Rachmatullah, & Ha, 2019;Meilani, Dantes, & Tika, 2020). The importance of knowing the influence of the character of reading fondness on attitudes is so that a person can know and apply the character of fond of reading in educational activities, so that there is an increase in attitudes in a positive direction.…”

“…To improve attitudes towards science, there are many variables that influence it (Wu et al, 2019). Research on attitudes towards science has previously been carried out by (Aini et al, 2019;Maison et al, 2020;Simsar, 2018;Radu Bogdan Toma & Greca, 2018). Research on the effect of another variable on attitudes in science (DiMaggio, Sotoudeh, Goldberg, & Shepherd, 2018;Lee & Kim, 2018;Radu Bogdan Toma & Greca, 2018).…”

The Validity of Demonstration-Based Audio-Visual Learning Media on The Topic of Temperature, Heat and Its Displacement in Fifth Grade

“…It also applies in science learning, emphasizing providing direct experience to students to understand the natural surroundings through scientific steps. The ultimate goal is to prepare students who are responsive to their phenomena (Aini et al, 2019;Hwang et al, 2013).…”