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Attitude towards Biology and Its Effects on Student's Achievement

DOI:10.5539/ijb.v3n4p100
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Ahmad Reza Nasr Isfahani at University of Isfahan
Ahmad Reza Nasr Isfahani
Asghar Soltani at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman
Asghar Soltani
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The main purpose of this study was to examine the relation between attitudes towards science in biology courses and students' biology achievement. A total of 185 grade 12 (age 17-18 years) students in Isfahan answered to a 30-item questionnaire provided by authors based on STAQ-R inventory. The results showed that among attitude towards science dimensions, only "biology is fun for me", have meaningful and positive relation with students' achievement in biology. Also there was no significant difference between girls and boys in attitude towards biology, although girls had better achievements in biology in comparison with boys.
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www.ccsenet.org/ijb International Journal of Biology Vol. 3, No. 4; October 2011
ISSN 1916-9671 E-ISSN 1916-968X
100
Attitude towards Biology and Its Effects on Student’s Achievement
Ahmad R. Nasr
School of Education, University of Isfahan
PO box 81746 73441, Isfahan, Azadi square, University of Isfahan, Iran
Tel: 0098-311-793-2538 E-mail: arnasr@edu.ui.ac.ir
Asghar Soltani K. (Corresponding author)
Faculty of Literature and Humanity, School of Education, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran
PO box 76169133, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Afzalipour square, Kerman, Iran
Tel: 0098-913-209-3549 E-mail: asghar.soltani.k@gmail.com
Received: April 25, 2011 Accepted: May 9, 2011 doi:10.5539/ijb.v3n4p100
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine the relation between attitudes towards science in biology courses
and students’ biology achievement. A total of 185 grade 12 (age 17-18 years) students in Isfahan answered to a
30-item questionnaire provided by authors based on STAQ-R inventory. The results showed that among attitude
towards science dimensions, only “biology is fun for me”, have meaningful and positive relation with students’
achievement in biology. Also there was no significant difference between girls and boys in attitude towards
biology, although girls had better achievements in biology in comparison with boys.
Keywords: Attitudes towards science, Achievement in biology, Attitude towards biology, Biology education
1. Introduction
With global scientific and technological growth occurring rapidly, declining student interest in science courses
and careers is a worldwide concern that has prompted science education reform efforts on an international scale.
Since student attitudes toward science effect course and career choices, measuring the impact of reform efforts
on student attitudes is important and will require measurement tools with robust psychometric properties (Owen
et al, 2008). Attitudinal studies in science education area are mostly pertinent to elementary, middle and high
school students’, and in some cases college students’ attitudes towards science (Turkmen, 2007). As science has
become ever more deeply embedded in our everyday life, how ordinary people perceive science has attracted
growing attention not only from the scientific community, but also from social scientists (Bak, 2001). A
significant amount of research in science education is devoted to understanding ways we can improve the quality
of science education and increase enrolment in science courses and degrees. One of the key factors in learning
science is students’ attitudes and the development of positive attitudes toward science can motivate student
interest in science education and science-related careers (George, 2006).
However definition or concept of attitude towards science is vague and ambiguous, but attitude is concept that
defines emotional trends in response to affaires, persons, locations, events or ideas Therefore phrases as “I like
science” or “ I enjoy science courses” enumerate as attitude(Simpson and Oliver, 1990).
There are many factors that influence attitudes and achievement among adolescents. Some of the factors are
associated with parental background and family environment. Other factors relate to individual characteristics
such as self-concept, locus of control, and achievement motivation. Still other variables are associated with
schools influences such as class climate, teachers, and administrative styles (Talton and Simpson, 1985).
According to Osborne et al (2003), Studies have incorporated a range of components in their measures of
attitudes to science including: the perception of the science teacher; anxiety toward science; the value of science;
self-esteem at science; motivation towards science; enjoyment of science; attitudes of peers and friends towards
science; attitudes of parents towards science; the nature of the classroom environment; achievement in science;
and fear of failure on course.
www.ccsenet.org/ijb International Journal of Biology Vol. 3, No. 4; October 2011
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 101
As Osborne et al (2003) cited in their review, However, Gardner’s research (1995) offered little support for any
strong relationship between attitude and achievement, Schibeci (1984) draws a stronger link between the two,
quoting studies that show a correlation of 0.3-0.5. However, he also cites studies that show no relationship. The
current position is best articulated by Shrigley (1990), who argues that attitude and ability scores can be expected
to correlate moderately. Likewise, the measures used in the TIMSS study, albeit somewhat unsophisticated, have
found a consistent relationship between attitude and achievement (Beaton et al., 1996). Weinburgh’s (1995)
meta-analysis of the research suggests that there is only a moderate correlation between attitude towards science
and achievement. Longitudinal study of Oliver and Simpson (1988) shows a strong relationship between the
three affective variables - attitude towards science, motivation to achieve and the self-concept that the individual
has of their own ability - and their achievement in science.
Though many of researches on attitude towards science have dealt with science in general, but there are some
researches that examine this concept in specific science courses as physics or chemistry and so on. For example
Krogh (2005) assessed secondary students attitude towards physics and also Howe and Durr (1982) and Bennett
(2001), did some similar researches on chemistry. Regarding the importance of attitude towards science between
adolescents, in this paper, attitudes of secondary students towards biology and its effects on student
achievements in biology courses were examined.
Based on the theoretical background, the research questions of this study were:
1- Is there any relation between attitude towards biology and students’ achievements in biology courses at
following dimensions?
a. Motivating Biology Class;
b. Self-Directed Efforts;
c. Family Models;
d. Biology is Fun for Me;
e. Peer Models.
2- Is there any significant difference in students’ attitude towards biology in terms of gender?
3- Is there any significant difference in students’ biology achievement in terms of gender?
2. Method
A questionnaire containing 30- item was used for this research which was based on Simpson-Troost Attitude
Questionnaire-revised (STAQ-R). STAQ-revised is a revised form of Simpson-Troost attitude questionnaire that
was developed by Owen et al (2008) to assess adolescent commitment to and achievement in science. STAQ has
22 Likert items that examines attitude towards science but we added 8 items to it regarding cultural and ethical
properties of our country Iran. This instrument has 5 dimensions that each one includes from 4 to 9 items (Table
1). These inventory subscales that evaluate attitudes towards biology in 12 grade secondary students are:
motivating biology class; self-directed efforts; family models; biology is fun for me; and peer models. We added
some demographic questions as gender and economical class and collect student’s scores in biology from high
schools from which students had been chosen.
After pilot implementation of instrument, reliability coefficient (cronbach’alpha) was 0.85 that showed questions
have strong internal correlation. Then a total of 185 grade 12 students (age 17-18 years) from secondary students
of Isfahan were chosen to participate in research who answered to 30-item questionnaire that assesses their
attitudes towards biology. After inventory implementation, data were analyzed with the statistical software,
SPSS version 16.00.
3. Results
The study proposed to examine attitude towards biology in secondary students and its effects on students’
achievements in biology courses. Analysis of results indicated no significant difference between attitude towards
biology and students’ achievements in biology courses (p<0.05, r = 0.12). Coefficient of determination showed
that there is 0.014 between attitude towards biology and biology achievement (Table 2).
Correlation coefficient between “motivating biology class” and students’ biology achievement was
0.025(p<0.05). This coefficient between “self-directed efforts” and biology achievement was 0.091(p<0.05).
Correlation coefficient between ‘family models” and biology achievement was 0.036(p<0.05) and between “peer
models” and biology achievement was 0.067(p<0.05) .But this coefficient between “biology is fun for me” and
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biology achievement was 0.304(p<0.05), that showed among all of attitudes towards biology dimensions, only
this dimension has positive and meaningful relation with students’ biology achievements (Table 3).
Also regression analysis results of attitude dimensions and students’ achievements in biology (Table 4) showed
that there is a positive and significant relation between “biology is fun for me” and students’ achievements.
To examine second question T-test for independent means was used. According to the results of this test, there is
no significant difference between girls and boys on attitude towards biology (p<0.05) (Table 5).
Also results of used independent T-test indicated that girls have better achievements in biology comparing with
boys (p<0.05) (Table 6).
4. Discussion
One of the usages of attitude study instruments in science education is assaying students’ attitude towards
science at elementary and secondary levels. Attitude towards science affects course and career choices of
students and it is important to examine its different aspects and reinforce weak aspects through designing
different educational programs. Biology as an important branch of science plays a substantial role in attitude
towards science.
This study examined relation between attitudes towards science in biology courses and students’ biology
achievement. However results of this study showed that there is no statically significant difference between
attitude towards biology and students’ biology achievements but among five dimensions of attitude towards
biology only “biology is fun for me” has meaningful relation with students’ achievements. It means that
considering fun aspects in biology is an important issue in biology education. In other words, when students
sense that biology courses and educational materials in biology make a fun atmosphere in class, school and home,
their positive attitudes towards biology have increased and this results in better achievement in biology.
Sex is one of the important variables related towards pupils’ attitude to science. Some researches have shown
that there is no relation between gender and attitude towards science (Greenfield, 1997), and results of this
research are consistent with these studies. However, numerous of research studies have shown that boys have a
consistently more positive attitude to school science than girls, although this effect is stronger in physics than in
biology and girls’ attitudes to science are significantly less positive than boys (Osborne, et al., 2003). This study
confirms these studies. Nonetheless results indicated that girls’ achievements in biology are significantly better
than boys that this is normal in terms of better achievements of Iranian girls.
The educational implementations of this study are that we should make biological curriculum fun for students. It
may suggest that we implement fun materials, texts and instruction methods. We can also inform biology
teachers in in-service educations that have further more emphasis on this aspect of attitude towards biology.
References
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Boston College.
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Greenfield, T. A. (1997). Gender- and grade-level differences in science interest and participation. Science
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Krogh, L. B. (2005). Studying students’ attitudes towards science from a cultural perspective but with a
quantitative methodology: Border crossing into the physics classroom. International Journal of Science
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Oliver, J. S., & Simpson, R. D. (1988). Influences of attitude toward science, achievement motivation, and
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Table 1. Questionnaire subscales, number and sample of questions
subscales Number of questions Sample of questions
Motivating Biology Class 9 I consider our biology classroom attractive and comfortable
Self-Directed Efforts 6 I tray hard to do well in biology
Family Models 5 My family watches biology programs on TV
Biology is Fun for Me 6 I really like biology
Peer Models 4 My best friend likes biology
Table 2. Correlation coefficient between attitude and achievement
Sig.R2 r Variable
0.08 0.014 0.12 Attitude and achievement
Table 3. Correlation coefficient between dimensions of attitude and achievement
Sig. R2 r Variable
0.735 0.0006 0.025 Motivating Biology Class
0.218 0.0082 0.091 Self-Directed Efforts
0.624 0.0013 0.036 Family Models
0.000 0.09 0.304 Biology is Fun for Me
0.362 0.0045 0.067 Peer Models
www.ccsenet.org/ijb International Journal of Biology Vol. 3, No. 4; October 2011
ISSN 1916-9671 E-ISSN 1916-968X
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Table 4. Regression analysis of attitude’ dimensions and achievement
Sig. St. deviationt Model
0.000 1.242 9.851 Total Mean
0.929 0.040 0.089 Peer Models
0.000 0.046 4.221 Biology is Fun for Me
0.325 0.050 -0.986Family Models
0.385 0.045 -0.871Self-Directed Efforts
0.673 0.012 0.422 Motivating Biology Class
Table 5. Results of T-test for independent means of attitude towards biology in terms of gender
Sig. t dfStd .deviationMean
sexvariable
0.08 1.72184
10.94 115.56girl
Attitude towards biology 22.32 110.98boy
Table 6. Results of T-test for independent means of biology achievement in terms of gender
Sig. t dfStd. deviationMean
sexvariable
0.00 3.92184
2.10 16.40girl
Attitude towards biology 2.19 15.15boy
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This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students' attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated. Starting from a consideration of what is meant by attitudes to science, it considers the problems inherent to their measurement, what is known about students' attitudes towards science and the many factors of influence such as gender, teachers, curricula, cultural and other variables. The literature itself points to the crucial importance of gender and the quality of teaching. Given the importance of the latter we argue that there is a greater need for research to identify those aspects of science teaching that make school science engaging for pupils. In particular, a growing body of research on motivation offers important pointers to the kind of classroom environment and activities that might raise pupils' interest in studying school science and a focus for future research.
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Finding pearls: Psychometric reevaluation of the Simpson–Troost Attitude Questionnaire (STAQ)
Article
Full-text available
The Simpson–Troost Attitude Questionnaire (STAQ) was developed as part of a study to assess adolescent commitment to and achievement in science. For this psychometric reappraisal of the 57-item STAQ, data were analyzed from a convenience sample of 1,754 secondary students. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were applied, and results suggested that the STAQ can be shortened from 57 to 22 items spanning five revised dimensions. These five dimensions were arranged into an exploratory structural equation model, which showed some grade and gender differences and strong associations among classroom environment, self-directed effort, and science affect. Findings raise the potential for teacher professional development to improve science classroom activities, and influence student self-directed effort and science affect. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:1076–1095, 2008
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Studying students' attitudes towards science from a cultural perspective but with a quantitative methodology: Border crossing into the physics classroom
Article
  • Jan 2005
This study applies the concept of cultural border (or boundary) crossing first introduced by Phelan et al. (199126. Phelan , P , Davidson , AL and Cao , HT . (1991). Students multiple worlds — Negotiating the boundaries of family, peer, and school cultures. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 22: 224–250. [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®], [CSA]View all references) to the investigation of students’ attitudes towards physics and to their choice of physics for A‐level. A typology of border crossings is introduced and a number of possible crossings are hypothesized; for example, family background (parents’ occupation and thinking style), low general school interest among family and peers, students’ non‐scientific perception of knowledge, their ‘more‐than‐just‐absorption’ purposes of knowledge‐acquisition and other value‐related judgements. The quantitative methodology used here makes it possible to build regression models of students’ attitudes and compare the possible impact of the border crossings with that of personality variables and teacher and teaching style characteristics. It is found that cultural border crossing factors are important predictors for attitudes towards physics as well as for choice of A‐level physics in the Danish upper secondary school (‘gymnasium’).
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A Cross-domain Analysis of Change in Students' Attitudes toward Science and Attitudes about the Utility of Science
Article
  • May 2006
Cross-domain analysis was used to examine changes in two attitudinal dimensions: students' attitudes towards science and attitudes about the utility of science over the middle school and high school years. A sample of 444 students was selected from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth. The results show that the overall trend for students' attitudes about the utility of science is positive; however, attitudes towards science decline over the middle school and high school years. Important time-varying predictors of both attitudes include science self-concept, peer attitudes, teacher encouragement of science, and, to a lesser extent, student participation in science activities.
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The development and use of an instrument to assess students' attitude to the study of chemistry
Article
  • Aug 2001
This paper reports on aspects of a three-phase study whose aim was to gather information on undergraduates' responses to the study of science. The emphasis of this paper is on methodological issues arising from considerations of how to measure and analyse data on attitudes. The study draws on the methodology employed in an earlier study undertaken in Canada, the Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) study, applying the methodology in a new context. The first two phases involved the development and validation of an appropriate research instrument. The third phase involved using the instrument with students in the first year of study at a South African University. In additional to the quantitative data gathered, the students' responses on the instrument were used to develop in-depth 'profiles' of particular groups of students. This technique proved particularly effective in identifying areas for possible remedial action.
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Attitude towards science: A review of the literature and its implications
Article
  • Sep 2003
This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students? attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated. Starting from a consideration of what is meant by attitudes to science, it considers the problems inherent to their measurement and what is known about students' attitudes towards science and the many factors of influence such as gender, teachers, curricula, cultural and other variables. The literature itself points to the crucial importance of gender and the quality of teaching. Given the importance of the latter we argue that there is a greater need for research to identify those aspects of science teaching that make school science engaging for pupils. In particular, a growing body of research on motivation offers important pointers to the kind of classroom environment and activities that might raise pupils' interest in studying school science and a focus for future research.
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Attitude and behavior correlates
Article
Science attitude scales can be expected to predict science-related behavior. But A-B correspondence can seldom be expected to approach the r value of 1.00. Attitude and behavior covary to the degree that valid measurement and mediating variables are considered: Individual differences of subjects (e.g., high versus low self-monitoring); the social situation (e.g., direct experience); cognitive factors (e.g., attitude accessibility in memory). Attitude and behavior are reciprocal; that is, attitude can follow behavior. Variables other than attitude, e.g., behavioral intention, previous behavior, and habit, may under some conditions better predict behavior. Also, a viable alternative to attitude testing may be direct appraisal of some science classroom behaviors through ethnomethodology.
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