attitudes towards school science: a comparison of participants and nonparticipants in...

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Attitudes Towards School Science: AComparison of Participants andNonparticipants in ExtracurricularScience ActivitiesAvi HofsteinDepartment of Science Teaching

Netta MaozMoshe RishponYouth Activities SectionThe Weizmann Institute of ScienceRehovot, Israel 76100

Introduction

In recent years, we have become more concerned not only with whatstudents know about science but also with how they feel towards science.Questions such as the following have become an important issue for scienceeducators: What is the impact of science and scientists on students’ views andattitudes? Do students enjoy their science classes? Do they feel that the factsand methods they learn in science classes are useful both at present and forthe future?

Unfortunately, schools seem to operate negatively in matters dealing withthe affective domain (Harms, Bybee, & Yager, 1979; Hofstein, Scherz, &Yager, 1986; Hofstein & Welch, 1984; National Assessment of EducationalProgress [NAEP], 1978; Yager. 1981, 1982; Yager & Yager, 1985). Studieshave shown that:

1. Students’ overall attitude towards science in junior and senior highschool is moderately low (Harms, Bybee, & Yager, 1979).

2. There is a decline in attitude from the junior to the senior high schoollevel (Hofstein & Welch. 1984; Huftle, Rakow, & Welch, 1983; Ormerod &Duckworth, 1975).

3. Most students feel that support should be given to scientific research butare less enthusiastic concerning their personal involvement in scientific projectsand activities (Huftle, Rakow, & Welch, 1983).

4. On the whole, students perceive that science and scientific research areimportant but they do not extend such appreciation to science studied inschool (Hofstein & Welch, 1983). Students enrolled in extracurricular scienceactivities perceive that such activities represent the real scientific process(Hofstein, Maoz, & Rishpon, 1985).

School Science and MathematicsVolume 90 (1) January 1990

14 Extracurricular Science Activities

5. Enrollment in science courses has declined in recent years (Welch,Anderson, & Harris, 1984).A series of studies conducted in Israel (Milner, Ben Zvi, & Hofstein, 1986;

Scherz, Ben Zvi, & Hofstein, 1986) have shown clearly that enrollment inscience courses in secondary schools in Israel is highly affected by variousaffective variables, e.g., students* interest in scientific information andactivities and their feelings towards school science. It is suggested that futuredevelopments in the area of science curricula should aim at meeting theinterests, feelings, and needs of a diverse population.One of the proposed methods to increase students’ confidence in the various

components of school science is to involve them in extracurricular scienceactivities conducted in academic institutions.

Extracurricular Science Education

In Israel, most of the extracurricular science education activities are locatedon the university campuses. Pupils come to the universities to participate inscience courses once a week for a period of about six months throughout theschool year or intensive summer programs for two to four weeks.The Youth Activities Section at the Weizmann Institute of Science has been

dealing with extracurricular science education since 1963. The major aim ofthese activities is to give junior and senior high school students an opportunityto get involved in science as it is conducted by and known to scientists. This isa flexible framework through which the students get enrichment in sciencethrough participating in science clubs, working on science projects, buildingscientific models and participating in science workshops.The instructors in the various programs run by the Youth Activities Section

are academic scientists or graduate students in the sciences. In a particularscience course, a group of about 15 students meets weekly for three hours.Meetings take place in the afternoon. Students study topics in the fields ofphysics, chemistry, biology, electronics, astronomy, mathematics, andcomputers. The programs are flexible and the learning material can bechanged according to the students’ and instructors’ interests. Learningactivities include background material, inquiry type experiments, scientificfilms, and discussions. The students are sometimes asked to prepare a lectureon a certain topic related to the subject discussed in class. Students in Israelshow interest in these activities as evidenced by the high enrollment in theextracurricular courses (Eyion et aL, 1985).

Purpose of Study

It is suggested that some of the problems that face education could besolved by alternative educational methods like extracurricular activities. Thepurpose of this study is to compare the attitude towards school science ofstudents who enrolled in extracurricular science activities with those who didnot. It is hypothesized that, due to the involvement in extracurricular science


Extracurricular Science Activities 15

activities, students will perceive school science more positively than their peerswho have not been involved in such activities. In addition, this study willattempt to find out whether extracurricular science activities can effectivelyreduce the decline in attitude toward school science which tends to occurbetween the junior and senior high school educational phases.

Population

The research sample consisted of two categories of junior high school andsenior high school students. The junior high school sample (8th grade)consisted of 1,550 students from all over the country who had not enrolled inextracurricular science activities and 100 students who had enrolled voluntarilyin extracurricular science activities. The senior high school sample (llth grade)consisted of 1,450 students who had not enrolled in extracurricular activitiesand 53 students enrolled in such activities.

Since the two populations differed in size, we took random samples fromeach of the larger school populations who were not participating inextracurricular science activities for the purpose of comparison (Table 1). Weused stratified random sampling to sample students from each of the two agegroups of the school population for purposes of comparing to the otherpopulation. As a result, we got groups of about the same size as the twogroups of students who enrolled in extracurricular science activities. In doingso, we eliminated the possibility that in comparing the two populations theresults would reflect the differences in the sizes and not the effect of theextracurricular activities.

Table 1

Distribution of Population

Grade

8thllthTotal

ExtracurricularScience

Activities

10053153

SchoolP

BeforeSampling

1,5501,4503,000

opulation

AfterSampling

11358171

Research Instrument

A translated and adapted version of the attitude questionnaire usedextensively in the U.S. in the various NAEP projects (Huftle, Rakow, &Welch, 1983; NAEP, 1978; Yager & Yager, 1985) was used in this study. Theassessment of science by the NAEP in the U.S. included an extensive batteryof items in the affective domain. The measure was validated for use in theIsraeli context by Hofstein, Scherz, and Yager (1986) and Milner. Ben Zvi,and Hofstein (1986). The Israeli version consists of 50 items (Likert-type)



aimed at assessing students’ attitude towards school science.The instrument was administered to the various research groups towards the

end of the year after they had scientific experiences in schools and in theextracurricular science activities. Student mean responses to the items wereintercorrelated, factor analyzed, and varimax rotated. Six factors wereretained covering 43% of the total variance. The six factors obtained wereused as subscales. Subscales, sample items, and reliability coefficients (aCronbach) are given in Table 2.

Table 2

Scales Obtained from Factor Analytic Investigation of the Attitude TowardsSchool Science Questionnaire

No. ofitem in Reliability

Title of scale Sample item scale a Cronbach

Extracurricular activities I often listen to scientific 12 0.86lectures outside school

Interest in science studied I enjoy learning science 10 0.81in schoolScience as a future career In the future I would like 7 0.82

to be involved inlaboratory work

Relevance of science studies Science studies are useful 7 0.74Difficulty of science For me, studying science 5 0.54

is too much workConfidence in the science class Studying science makes 4 0.73

me feel confident

Results

The results will be presented in two parts. In the first, the attitudes of thetwo 8th grade and the two llth grade groups will be compared. In the second,the comparison between the two groups (8th and llth grade) who enrolled inthe extracurricular science activities and the two groups who did not enroll insuch activities will be presented. This analysis will be used in furthercomparison in order to find out whether the decline in attitude between 8thand llth grade diminishes or disappears using extracurricular scienceactivities.

Part 1

In order to find out whether students who enrolled in extracurricular scienceactivities differ from their peers in their attitude towards school science,discriminant analysis was conducted. This was done in order to derive theweights for the differences on the attitude scales. For the 8th grade sample,the value of Wilk’s /^was 0.78 and the value of x2 was 51.3 with 6 degrees



of freedom (p < 0.001). A similar procedure was conducted with the llthgrade samples. The value of Wilk’s /^ was 0.58 and the value of x2 was 57.2with 6 degrees of freedom (p < 0.001). These findings point to the fact that,

Table 3

Comparison of 8th Grade Students Who Enrolled in Extracurricular ScienceActivities and Who Did Not Enroll in Such Courses

Schoolsample

Extracurricularactivities

Title of scaleMeanS.D.MeanS.D.

Extracurricular activities 43.72 20.34 58.21 14.96 5.97 .001Interest in science studied 59.85 21.89 75.36 15.82 5.97 .001

in schoolScience as a future career 68.00 19.06 77.08 14.30 3.96 .001Relevance of science 70.93 17.48 79.46 14.74 3.82 .001

studiesDifficulty of science (-) 42.61 15.00 37.42 18.05 2.29 .02Confidence in the science 47.69 21.75 51.58 20.12 1.35 .178

class

(-) Negative scale

Table 4

Comparison of llth Grade Students Who Enrolled in Extracurricular ScienceActivities and Who Did Not Enroll in Such Courses

Schoolsample

Extracurricularactivities

Title of scaleMeanS.D,MeanS.D.

Extracurricular activities 38.63 17.51 61.64 13.02 7.80 .001Interest in science studied 55.83 22.10 76.45 14.69 5.83 .001

in schoolScience as a future career 63.92 23.18 77.25 13.43 3.74 .001Relevance of science 68.16 19.26 81.87 13.74 4.28 .001

studiesDifficulty of science (-) 43.02 17.97 36.17 14.65 2.19 .03Confidence in the science 30.17 21.66 47.59 17.67 4.62 .001

class

(-) Negative scale


18Extracurricular Science Activities

on the whole, there is a significant difference favoring those who enrolled inextracurricular science activities between the two subsamples in attitudetowards school science.

In order to get more insight into the origin of these differences a series oft-tests were conducted. The mean, standard deviation, and t-values arepresented in Tables 3 and 4.

Part 2

In the second part, a comparison of attitudes of the 8th and llth gradesamples is presented. The comparison of the two school samples is presentedin Table 5.

Table 5

Comparison of 8th and llth Grade School Population

8th grade llth grade

Title of scaleMeanS.D.MeanS.D.

Extracurricular activitiesInterest in science studied

in schoolScience as a future careerRelevance of science

studiesDifficulty of science (-)Confidence in the science

class

44.1562.12

68.2272.61

41.6048.18

18.7120.14

19.6416.70

16.7121.81

39.3556.51

63.3869.09

45.0432.80

18.2720.45

23.1119.70

15.5418.95

7.097.56

6.145.26

-5.8420.63

.001

.001

.001

.001

.001

.001

(-) Negative scale

In order to find out whether, on the whole, the two school populationsdiffered in their attitude, a discriminant analysis was conducted. The analysisrevealed that Wilk’s /was 0.85 and Chi2 was 47.0 with 6 degrees of freedom(p < 0.001). Significant differences were obtained on all six scales. Ourfindings show clearly that there is a decrease in students’ attitude towardsschool science from the 8th to the llth grade.

Students at the llth grade find the science studies to be less interesting andless relevant than do 8th grade students. Science as a future career appears tothem to be less attractive. On the other hand, the discriminant analysisrevealed that the decline in attitude that was evident in the school sample didnot exist when comparing 8th grade and llth grade students who enrolled inextracurricular science activities (Table 6). It is important, however, to notethat these findings were based on a selective and small population thatvoluntarily decided to enroll in such courses.


Extracurricular Science Adivides 19

Table 6

Comparison of 8th and llth Grade Students Who Participated inExtracurricular Science Activities

8th grade llth grade

Title of scale___________Mean S.D. Mean S.D.____t_____p_

Extracurricular activities 58.21 14.96 61.64 13.02 1.41 N.S.Interest in science studied 75.36 15.82 76.45 14.69 0.41 N.S.

in schoolScience as a future career 77.08 14.30 77.25 13.43 0.07 N.S.Relevance of science 79.46 14.74 81.87 13.74 0.99 N.S.

studiesDifficulty of science (-) 37.42 18.06 36.17 14.65 0.43 N.S.Confidence in the science 51.58 20.12 47.59 17.67 1.22 N.S.

class

(-) Negative Scale

Discussion

We live in an era in which the affective components of science education areas important as their cognitive counterparts. Many studies conducted in thepast have shown that it is very difficult to improve students’ attitude towardsand interest in science using curriculum material and/or instructionaltechniques. In recent years, there is a call to develop and implement sciencecurricula for all, especially in the high school. There is always the danger thatthose who want to be the future scientists and engineers will not be able toachieve their goals while learning science in such classes.Our findings (Table 3) showed that students who were exposed to

extracurricular science activities had a more positive attitude towards schoolscience. More specifically it was found that:

1. Students who enrolled in extracurricular science activities weresignificantly more interested in science activities, e.g. performing experimentsat home, listening to lectures, watching scientific films on television, andreading scientific books. These were items that were included in theextracurricular activities scale. This may be a reflection of their experience inthe extracurricular activities insofar as extracurricular activities have morepotential to expose students to such activities. Such activities do not, usually,exist in the formal school setting. Nevertheless, one has to take intoconsideration that this group was exposed to special treatment concerningtheir learning environment and instructional method.

2. Students who were involved in extracurricular science activities foundlearning science more enjoyable, more interesting, and more attractive asmeasured by the scale. Thus, it is suggested that this is a result of students*



exposure to the kind of scientific activities that are rare in schools. Theseactivities influence students’ attitudes and interest in science.

3. Students who study science in junior high school find their science classesless interesting and less enjoyable as compared to their peers who getenrichment in science. Similarly, it was found that students in extracurricularscience activities find science less difficult, and they feel more comfortablewhen involved in scientific activities. It is suggested that one of the biggestdifferences between what is happening in schools and in extracurricular scienceactivities is the amount of time given to hands-on activities. In recent years, ithas been observed there is a retreat from laboratory activities because ofeconomic and logistical constraints. Research conducted in Israel (Milner, BenZvi, & Hofstein, 1986) has shown that one of the reasons given for students’enrollment in science is their involvement in laboratory work. Research(Hofstein & Lunetta. 1982; Johnston & Wham, 1982) has shown that thelaboratory has a significant influence on students’ behavior in the affectivedomain.

4. Only a small difference was found between regular junior high schoolstudents and those involved in extracurricular science activities concerningtheir attitude towards the value of science. The two research populationsexpressed positive attitudes towards the value of science in general andtowards the value of the particular science area studied.

5. The comparison conducted between the llth grade and the 8th gradepopulations revealed significant differences concerning the two populations’attitude and interest in learning science. Research projects conducted in theU.S. (Hofstein & Welch, 1983) and in Israel (Hofstein & Ben Zvi, 1986) haveshown that decline in attitude is evident when comparing 8th and llth gradestudents in high schools. No such differences were obtained when comparingthe two populations who were involved in extracurricular science activities.One of the proposed goals in science curriculum development for the nextgeneration is to close this gap in attitude between junior and senior highschool students. It is suggested that exposing students to extracurricularscience activities is but one of the methods that can potentially enhancestudent motivation for learning science. Some of the instructional techniquesused in these activities could be adapted to school settings and learningenvironments in order to try to increase students’ interest in and motivationfor the learning of science.

Summary

In recent years, concerns have been raised by teachers and science educatorsas to the need for changing the goals of school science. There is an increasedawareness of the necessity for developing science curricula that are tailored tothe needs and interests of both science-oriented and nonscience-orientedgroups (Gardner & Yager, 1983). Recent findings (Milner, Ben Zvi, &Hofstein, 1986) have clearly shown that enrollment in science is highly



dependent on students’ personal feelings�how interesting they find theirscience studies and how confident they feel about learning science.

Future developments in science education should use new directions in orderto meet the needs and interests of diverse student populations. Extracurricularactivities are one of the many approaches which can be used to improvestudents’ attitude toward school science. A study conducted on extracurricularscience activities (Eyion et al., 1985) showed clearly that "extracurricularscience courses enable us to fill a gap in school science education." Thus, it issuggested that future development should consider expansion of such activitiesin order to develop more positive attitudes and eventually increase enrollmentsin school science and in science as a future career.

References

Eyion, B., Hofstein, A., Maoz, N., & Rishpon, M. (1985). Extracurricularscience courses: Filling a gap in school science education. Research inScience and Technological Education, 3, 81-89.

Gardner, M. H., & Yager, R. E. (1983). Ameliorating current problems inscience education. Science Education, 65, 589-594.

Harms, N., Bybee, R., & Yager, R. (1979). Science and society: A review ofthe NAEP data with implication for policies and research interpretativesummary. Denver, CO: National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP).

Hofstein, A., & Lunetta, V. N. (1982). The role of the laboratory in scienceteaching. Review of Educational Research, 52, 201-247.

Hofstein, A., & Welch, W. W. (1984). The stability of attitudes towardsscience between junior and senior high school. Research in Science andTechnological Education, 2, 131-138.

Hofstein, A., & Ben Zvi, R. (1986). A comparison of the attitude towards andinterest in science in general, and science learning in particular of 8th andllth grade students in Israel. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 12,235-236.

Huftle, S. J.. Rakow, S. J.. & Welch, W. W. (1982). Images of science: Asummary of results from the 1981-82 National Assessment of Science.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Research and Evaluation Center.

Johnston, A. H., & Wham, A. J. B. (1982). The demands of practical work.Education in Chemistry, 71-73.

Milner, N., Ben Zvi, R., & Hofstein, A. (1986). Variables that affect students’enrollment in science courses. Paper presented at the meeting of theNational Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), SanFrancisco, CA.

National Assessment of Educational Progress. (1978). The Third Assessmentof Science 1976-77 (Report No. 08-5-08). Denver, CO: Author.

Ormerod, M. B., & Duckworth, D. (1975). Pupils’ attitude to science: Areview of research. Windsor, Ontario: NFER.



Scherz, Z., Ben Zvi, R., & Hofstein, A. (1986). How to develop positiveattitudes towards science and chemistry through a new chemistrycurriculum. A paper presented at the meeting of the National Associationfor Research in Science Teaching (NARST), San Francisco, CA.

Welch, W. W., Harris, I. J., & Anderson, R. C. (1984). How many areenrolled in science? The Science Teacher, 14-17.

Yager, R. E. (1981). What is known that should affect science education inthe next decade. Iowa Curriculum Bulletin, 5, 17-21.

Yager, R. E. (1982). Is science a bunch of boring facts? The Science Teacher,49, 41-42.

Yager: R. E., & Yager, S. 0. (1985). Changes in perception of science forthird, seventh and eleventh grade students. Journal of Research in ScienceTeaching, 22, 347-358.


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