My Attitudes Toward Science (MATS): the development of a multidimensional instrument measuring students’ science attitudes

Examining Science Learning and Attitude by At-Risk Students After They Used a Multimedia-Enriched Problem-Based Learning Environment

“…Literature has shown students tend to lose their interest in science and do not consider it in their future aspirations as they advance to secondary education (Christidou, 2011;Osborne et al, 2003). Yet, having a positive attitude is critical to one's career choices (Hillman et al, 2016). The results of this study have shown it is possible to use student-centered pedagogical approaches such as PBL to engage students in learning and improve their attitudes.…”

“…The results also revealed a strong positive relationship between attitude toward science and science knowledge in that the higher the attitude prescores, the higher the student science knowledge posttest scores. These findings are encouraging, especially in the context of literature on attitude, which has shown a decline in attitude toward science classes at the middle school level (Barmby et al, 2008;Ebenezer & Zoller, 1993;Osborne et al, 2003) and the need of STEM workforces in the 21st century (Hillman et al, 2016). Literature has shown students tend to lose their interest in science and do not consider it in their future aspirations as they advance to secondary education (Christidou, 2011;Osborne et al, 2003).…”

“…Christidou (2011) reviewed more than 100 articles and found that students rapidly lost their interest in science and stopped considering it a viable option for their future aspirations as they advanced from elementary to secondary education. Hillman, Zeeman, Tilburg, and List (2016) argued that attitude was key to one's career choices in the future, yet the number of students in the United States choosing science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers was declining. PBL, as a successful pedagogical approach, is often used to motivate and engage students in learning science.…”

Development and validation of an instrument to assess student attitudes toward science across grades 5 through 10

“…However, as noted in earlier discussion and as illustrated in Table , extant instruments that accommodate a range of grade levels are geared toward students in the low to the middle grades, or the middle to the high school grade levels. Further, only two instruments included in Table are designed to collect responses from participants in elementary, middle, and high school: The Wareing Attitude Toward Science Protocol (Wareing, ), and the My Attitudes toward Science (MATS) instrument (Hillman et al, ), but both fall short in other regards that will be explored in the sections that follow.…”

Student Teachers’ Use of Data Feedback for Improving their Teaching Skills in Science and Technology in Primary Education

“…This study aims to identify which data collection methods generate suitable data for data feedback to aid the development of student teachers' pedagogical skills in stimulating pupils' attitude towards S&T. The specific focus on attitude is significant since pupils with a positive attitude towards S&T tended to be more engaged in and make more considerate choices regarding S&T topics as adults (Osborne, Simon, and Collins, 2003). Pupils with a positive attitude towards S&T did not only enjoy S&T activities, but were also eager to understand S&T subjects and to carry out S&T activities to satisfy their curiosity (Hillman, Zeeman, Tilburg, and List, 2016). Although studies that use data feedback to improve teachers' S&T teaching skills have been carried out before (Gerard, Spitulnik, and Linn, 2010;Smith, 2013), none of these studies had a specific focus on teaching skills in stimulating pupils' attitudes towards S&T. In this study, four different data collection methods were designed and tested by student teachers.…”