Students’ Attitudes Toward Chemistry Lessons: The Interaction Effect between Grade Level and Gender

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the interaction effect between grade level and gender with respect to students' attitudes toward chemistry lessons taught in secondary schools. The sample consisted of 954 chemistry students in grades Secondary 4–7 (approximately 16–19 years of age) in Hong Kong. Students' attitudes were surveyed using an attitude toward chemistry lessons scale (ATCLS), and subscale scores were produced on four dimensions: liking for chemistry theory lessons; liking for chemistry laboratory work; evaluative beliefs about school chemistry; and behavioral tendencies to learn chemistry. When the ATCLS data were subjected to two-way MANOVA, the interaction effect between grade level and gender on students' attitudes toward chemistry lessons was statistically significant. The interaction effect was attributable to scores on the theory lessons subscale and laboratory work subscale. Male students in Secondary 4 and 5 liked chemistry theory lessons more than their female counterparts. However, male students' liking for chemistry laboratory work declined when they progressed from Secondary 4 to Secondary 7; no such a significant decline in attitude toward chemistry laboratory work was found in females. Overall, both males and females were just marginally positive about chemistry lessons during the years of secondary schooling. Implications of these findings for curriculum design are discussed.     

Relationship among laboratory instruction,attitude toward science,and achievement in science knowledge

This study investigated the use of a hands-on laboratory program as a means of improving student attitude toward science and increasing student achievement levels in science knowledge. Using a posttest-only control group design, curriculum referenced objective examinations were used to measure student achievement in science knowledge, and a posttest Q-sort survey was used to measure student attitude toward science. A one-way analysis of variance compared the groups' differences in achievement and attitude toward science. Analysis of covariance was used to determine the effect of the laboratory treatment on the dependent achievement variable with attitude toward science as the covariable. The findings showed that students who had regular laboratory instruction (a) scored significantly higher (p < .01) on the objective examination of achievement in science knowledge than those who had no laboratory experiences; (b) exhibited a moderate, positive correlation (r = .406) between their attitude toward science and their achievement; and (c) scored significantly higher (p < .01) on achievement in science knowledge after these scores were adjusted on the attitude toward science covariable. There were no significant differences in achievement or attitude toward science for the limited English proficiency groups. It was concluded that laboratory instruction influenced, in a positive direction, the students' attitude toward science, and influenced their achievement in science knowledge. It was recommended that science instruction include a regular laboratory experience as a demonstrated viable and effective instructional method for science teachers. This model of science instruction has been shown to be effective with students of diverse backgrounds who live within large urban centers. J Res Sci Teach 34: 343–357, 1997.     

The Effects of a Chemistry Course with Integrated Information Communication Technologies on University Students’ Learning and Attitudes

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the instructional effects of using animations, static figures, PowerPoint bulletins, and e-plus software as chemistry texts with the aid of computer-based technology. This study analyzed the characteristics of students involved in three multimedia courses and their achievement and attitude toward chemistry and learning chemistry. The three samples included in this study involved 257 undergraduate engineering students enrolled in the courses during the academic year in which the study occurred. The results indicate that: (a) students acquired a better understanding of targeted chemistry concepts during the multimedia courses, (b) some categories of students, based on their major area of study, computer use, and attendance status at orientation achieved significantly (p < 0.05) higher post-test scores when adjusted for pre-test performance, and (c) significant differences and Cohen’s effect sizes in attitudes toward chemistry and learning chemistry were detected for students’ level of computer use, disposition toward computer multimedia, gender, and attendance at the multimedia orientation session. It appears to be helpful to incorporate computer-based multimedia (animations, images, sounds) teaching while utilizing constructivist design principles to facilitate students’ chemistry understanding and attitude toward chemistry and learning chemistry.     

Effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology

The effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology was investigated. The sample consisted of 240 Form IV biology students randomly drawn from six selected secondary schools in the Oyo state of Nigeria. They were assigned into two groups—experimental and control. The experimental group was exposed to the discovery method, and the control group was taught using the expository method. The science class of Form IV in each of the six schools was selected intact for the study. A nonrandomized pretest-posttest control group design was employed. The major instrument was the 40–item Scientific Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ). It is a Likert-type questionnaire using five scales. Two hypotheses were tested. Analyses of the results showed that the experimental group evinced a significantly more favorable attitude to biology than the control group (t = 8.87, p < 0.01). It was also found that the high, average-, and low-ability groups in the experimental class evinced a more favorable attitude to biology than their counterparts in the control class. However, there was no significant difference in the attitude of male and female students exposed to the discovery and expository methods (F1,227 = 0.07, p > 0.999). The article concludes with a recommendation that science learning using the discovery method may enable the learner to evince more a favorable attitude toward problem recognition and problem solving than when learning is done by the expository method.     

Hands-on, Demonstration, and Videotape Laboratories for Non-Science Majors in a Food Science Course: Achievement, Attitude, and Efficiency

ABSTRACT: Student achievement, attitude, and instructional efficiency were determined for hands-on and for live and videotape demonstration laboratories for nonscience majors. Each of 3 laboratory sections experienced 3 different teaching methods for one 4-wk unit. No significant difference in achievement was found among the laboratory methods. An attitude survey indicated a significant positive change in attitude toward live demonstration, with a negative change toward the hands-on and videotape methods. Videotape demonstration was the most economical method based on monetary and time expenditures, followed by live demonstration. Findings support using a variety of laboratory teaching methods, with the particular method based on appropriateness to students' learning needs; particular information, lesson, or unit of study taught; and instructional purpose.     

Effectiveness of Using Computer-Assisted Supplementary Instruction for Teaching the Mole Concept

This study examined the effect of computer-assisted instruction (CAI), used as a problem-solving supplement to classroom instruction, on students' understanding of chemical formulas and mole concept, their attitudes toward chemistry subjects, and CAI. The objective was to assess the effectiveness of CAI over recitation hours when both teaching methods were used as a supplement to the traditional chemistry instruction. We randomly selected two classes in a secondary school. Each teaching strategy was randomly assigned to one class. The experimental group received supplementary instruction delivered via CAI, while the control group received similar instruction through recitation hours. The data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance and t-test. It was found that the students who used the CAI accompanied with lectures scored significantly higher than those who attended recitation hours, in terms of school subject achievement in chemistry and attitudes toward chemistry subjects. In addition, there was a significant improvement in the attitudes of students in the experimental group toward the use of computers in a chemistry course. There was no significant difference between the performances of females versus males in each treatment group.     

Effects of integrated video media on student achievement and attitudes in high school chemistry

This study explored the effects of an integrated video media curriculum enhancement on students' achievement and attitudes in a first-year general high school chemistry course within a multiculturally diverse metropolitan school district. Through the use of a treatment-control experimental design, approximately 450 students in Grades 9–12 were sampled on measures of chemistry achievement and attitude over the period of 1 academic year. The results revealed significantly higher achievement scores on standardized measures of achievement as well as on microunit researcher-designed, criterion-referenced quizzes for the treatment students who experienced a general chemistry course enhanced with an integrated use of a structured chemistry video series. Correlation of student achievement with logical thinking ability revealed that students with high levels of logical thinking ability benefited most from the video-enhanced curriculum. Treatment students also scored significantly higher than control students on the chemistry attitude instrument. These results along with qualitative supportive evidence suggest that this integrated video media curriculum intervention can positively affect student chemistry achievement and attitude across ability levels and across a diverse multicultural population. Furthermore, the data suggest that educational science video media in general, and the World of Chemistry video series in particular, are instructional tools that can be used effectively to bring the often abstract, distant worlds of science into close focus and within the personal meaningful realm of each individual student. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 617–631, 1997.     

Science Learning Outcomes in Alignment with Learning Environment Preferences

This study investigated students’ learning environment preferences and compared the relative effectiveness of instructional approaches on students’ learning outcomes in achievement and attitude among 10th grade earth science classes in Taiwan. Data collection instruments include the Earth Science Classroom Learning Environment Inventory and Earth Science Learning Outcomes Inventory. The results showed that most students preferred learning in a classroom environment where student-centered and teacher-centered instructional approaches coexisted over a teacher-centered learning environment. A multivariate analysis of covariance also revealed that the STBIM students’ cognitive achievement and attitude toward earth science were enhanced when the learning environment was congruent with their learning environment preference.     

Students' cognitive focus during a chemistry laboratory exercise: Effects of a computer‐simulated prelab

To enhance the learning outcomes achieved by students, learners undertook a computer‐simulated activity based on an acid–base titration prior to a university‐level chemistry laboratory activity. Students were categorized with respect to their attitudes toward learning. During the laboratory exercise, questions that students asked their assistant teachers were used as indicators of cognitive focus. During the interviews, students' frequency and level of “spontaneous” use of chemical knowledge served as an indicator of knowledge usability. Results suggest that the simulation influenced students toward posing more theoretical questions during their laboratory work and, regardless of attitudes, exhibiting a more complex, correct use of chemistry knowledge in their interviews. A more relativistic student attitude toward learning was positively correlated with interview performance in both the control and treatment groups. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1108–1133, 2007     

Impact of mobile-based mentoring,socio-economic background and religion on girls’ attitude and belief towards antisocial behaviour (ASB)

This study examined the impact of mobile-based mentoring, socio-economic background and religion on girl’s attitude and belief towards ASB in Ibadan Oyo State Nigeria. The study adopted a mixed method research design. The participants in the study comprised forty (40) students purposively selected from Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The platform ( www.gcmentoringinitiative.org ) was adopted for mobile-based mentoring. One research question was raised and three null hypotheses were tested in the study at .05 level of significance. Data were analysed using content analysis for Focus Group Discussion, Analysis of Covariance and Estimated Marginal Means. The results reveal a significant main effect of socio-economic background on girl’s attitude towards ASB. Also, there was no significant impact of mobile-based mentoring on girl’s attitude towards ASB. Based on the findings, using mobiles in mentoring girls could significantly reinforce or change their belief in engaging in antisocial activities. Also, the socio-economic background plays a significant role in determining the attitude and belief of girls in engaging in antisocial activities. Girls’ religion has little or no effect on their belief and attitude towards antisocial behaviours (ASB). Girls from low-income family are susceptible to engage in ASB, while those from wealthy homes are less likely to engage in ASB.     

Potential Values of Incorporating a Multiple‐Choice Question Construction in Physics Experimentation Instruction

The potential value of a multiple‐choice question‐construction instructional strategy for the support of students’ learning of physics experiments was examined in the study. Forty‐two university freshmen participated in the study for a whole semester. A constant comparison method adopted to categorize students’ qualitative data indicated that the influences of multiple‐choice question construction were evident in several significant ways (promoting constructive and productive studying habits; reflecting and previewing course‐related materials; increasing in‐group communication and interaction; breaking passive learning style and habits, etc.), which, worked together, not only enhanced students’ comprehension and retention of the obtained knowledge, but also helped distil a sense of empowerment and learning community within the participants. Analysis with one‐group t‐tests, using 3 as the expected mean, on quantitative data further found that students’ satisfaction toward past learning experience, and perceptions toward this strategy’s potentials for promoting learning were statistically significant at the 0.0005 level, while learning anxiety was not statistically significant. Suggestions for incorporating question‐generation activities within classroom and topics for future studies were rendered.     

A Multilevel Analysis of Learning Environments and Student Attitudes

An investigation of relationships between students’ attitudes towards chemistry and their perceived laboratory environments was carried out using a sample of 1592 final year secondary school students in 56 chemistry classes in 28 randomly selected co‐educational government schools. This study is distinctive in that it marks the beginning of science classroom environment research in Singapore and because it pioneers the use of the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) in learning environment research. The Chemistry Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI), a modified version of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory, was used to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment in chemistry laboratory classes. Students’ chemistry‐related attitudes were assessed using the Questionnaire on Chemistry‐related Attitudes (QOCRA), which is based on the Test of Science‐related Attitudes. Environment‐attitude relationships were examined using conventional multiple regression analysis and the more rigorous HLM. Positive associations emerged between the nature of the chemistry laboratory classroom environment and the students’ attitudinal outcomes     

Effects of a modified mastery learning strategy on achievement,attitudes, and on-task behavior of high school chemistry students

The effects of a mastery learning strategy modified to limit diagnosis to two cycles were tested with high school chemistry students. The results indicate that achievement of mastery learning students was significantly greater than that of nonmastery control students. On-task behavior (academic engagement) of mastery learning students increased in a linear fashion during the study (45 instructional days), while on-task behavior of nonmastery students decreased. Attitudes toward science and science instruction were not significantly different but were positive in both mastery and nonmastery conditions.     

Effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence: An empirical evidence in learning oriental music

Blended learning emerged as the most popular instructional design strategy in the field of education since last decade to present date. In fact, it is well acknowledged that blended learning approach significantly elevate students’ engagement and competency in learning process. Despite immense potentiality, many countries are still lag behind adopting this instructional design, such as Sri Lanka. Therefore, the primary aims of this study are two fold, (a) to investigate the effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence and (b) to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in teaching Oriental Music. This study mainly carried out among the senior secondary schools students at Colombo, Sri Lanka. A mixed methods, experimental and survey, were carried out to test the effectiveness of blended learning and identifying the important factors for enhancing students’ competence in learning Oriental Music. Results of independent sample t-test confirmed that blended learning is effective in terms of improving students’ performance in learning Oriental Music. Similarly, regression analysis confirmed that attitude and motivation are the two most important determinants for improving students’ competence. This study fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing blended learning to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt in hybrid instructions to teach secondary level students effectively. The curriculum designers will make use of these findings during innovation and future researcher would be benefitted to overlook more possible platforms to deliver music instructions. It will help them to understand how their set objectives have been achieved in technology integrations and seek for improvement where necessary.     

Effects of 3D virtual reality of plate tectonics on fifth grade students' achievement and attitude toward science

This study examines the effects of a teaching method using 3D virtual reality simulations on achievement and attitude toward science. An experiment was conducted with fifth-grade students (N = 41) to examine the effects of 3D simulations, designed to support inquiry-based science curriculum. An ANOVA analysis revealed that the 3D group scored significantly higher on the achievement test (F = 7.03, p < .05) than the control group using traditional 2D visuals. A positive change of attitude toward science was identified in both 3D and 2D groups, but it was not statistically significant. A robust regression analysis revealed that neither gender nor ethnicity had any significant effect on achievement tests or attitude. However, prior attitude had a significant determining effect for later attitude in both groups.     

Predicting teachers’ instructional behaviors: The interplay between self-efficacy and intrinsic needs

This study was conducted to extend previous research by examining the specificity of teachers’ intrinsic needs and self-efficacy, and how they interact to predict instructional behaviors. Self-reporting measures were applied to assess teachers’ self-efficacy and intrinsic need satisfaction and students rated the teachers’ instructional behaviors (cognitive activation, teacher–student relationship and classroom management). The latent moderated structural (LMS) equation analyses conducted on data collected from 155 mathematics teachers and 3483 grade 10 students in secondary schools in Germany revealed that separately both self-efficacy and intrinsic needs predicted instructional behaviors. Moreover, a significant interaction effect between intrinsic need satisfaction and self-efficacy emphasized that when need satisfaction is not provided by the school environment, a high level of self-efficacy has a negative effect on the teacher–student relationship. Our findings underline that self-efficacy and intrinsic needs have commonalities when predicting instructional behavior and the importance of addressing the interaction between personal and environmental characteristics within the learning environment. Future research on teachers’ instructional behaviors should take aspects of teacher competence beyond self-efficacy into considerations and should examine how intrinsic need satisfaction can be enhanced.     

‘Named Small but Doing Great’: An Investigation of Small-Scale Chemistry Experimentation for Effective Undergraduate Practical Work

In theory, practical work is an established part of university-level chemistry courses. However, mainly due to budget constraints, large class size, time constraints and inadequate teacher preparations, practical activities are frequently left out from chemistry classroom instruction in most developing countries. Small-scale chemistry (SSC) experimentation in which one uses miniature chemical equipment can drastically reduce quantities of chemicals used during experimentation, which can help overcome some of the barriers preventing practical work in the chemistry classroom. This study evaluated the effectiveness of using miniature chemical equipment at the undergraduate level in increasing students’ understanding of chemistry concepts as well as in improving their attitude towards chemistry practical work. Two comparable groups of first-year students who enrolled for a Practical General Chemistry course participated. A quasi-experimental design was employed in which the experimental group (N = 49) used the SSC approach while the control group (N = 52) followed the traditional approach for over 8 weeks. Data were gathered using chemistry tests, attitude and perception questionnaires and interviews. Findings showed that the SSC approach was as effective as the traditional laboratory approach in improving students’ attitude towards practical work, but more effective in enhancing students’ understanding of chemistry concepts. More interestingly, SSC was positively accepted by both students and instructors as an effective strategy for teaching first-year undergraduate chemistry practicals. Some shortcomings of the approach were also identified.     

Pre-service teachers’ and teacher-educators’ experiences and attitudes toward using social networking sites for collaborative learning

Extensive use of social networking sites by students and teachers makes educators and researchers to think whether they can be incorporated in instructional process to facilitate students’ learning. This survey-based study records and examines Pakistani pre-service teachers’ and teacher-educators’ current uses of Facebook, and their attitudes toward using Facebook for collaborative learning, and to see if there is a significant relationship between participants’ intensity of Facebook use and their attitude toward instructional use of Facebook. Results of the study indicated that pre-service teachers’ and teacher-educators’ motives for their current Facebook use are mainly limited for social purposes. Pre-service teachers’ use of Facebook is more intensified than the use of Facebook by teacher-educators. Further, pre-service teachers showed more positive attitudes toward using Facebook for collaborative learning than the attitudes of their faculty. Findings also indicated a positive relationship between participants’ Facebook intensity and their attitudes toward its use for collaborative learning.     

Student Achievement in an Educational Technology Course As Enhanced By Cooperative Learning

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of cooperative learning on students' achievement in an Educational Technology course in an Initial Teacher Training Program. A cooperative learning strategy was compared with the traditional whole class direct instruction approach. Ninety-five first year full-time students at a College of Education constituted the sample. The students' achievement included: academic achievement in the course, quantity measurement in the use of instructional media, and quality rating of utilization of instructional media during their teaching practice. Their attitude change was also assessed by an Attitude Inventory. The results indicated that cooperative learning strategy had a positive effect on academic achievement and quantity measurement in the use of instructional media (F(l,91) = 7.06, p < 0.01; F(l,91) = 4.59, p < 0.05). Cooperative learning strategy also had a positive influence on students' attitudes towards instructional media and their learning condition (F(l,93) = 5.07, p < 0.05; F(l,93) = 6.20, p < 0.05).