The contribution of science locus of control orientation to expressions of attitude toward science teaching

Science locus of control (SciLOC) orientation is examined as a predictor of attitudes toward science teaching among 104 preservice elementary school teachers. SciLOC orientation refers to beliefs people hold regarding their personal efficacy, or ability to influence the outcome of events, in situations where decisions or actions require either the application of scientific knowledge or the use of reasoning skills associated with scientific thinking. A causal model that links such beliefs to attitudes toward science teaching was formulated and tested in this study. Multiple regression analysis demonstrates that 46% of the variance in attitudes toward science teaching expressed by subjects in the sample studied can be explained by SciLOC orientation. Path analysis of the proposed causal model accounts for 57% of the variance in expressed attitudes and 11% of the variance in SciLOC orientation. These results are interpreted as evidence that SciLOC orientation is a major contributor to attitudes expressed toward science teaching among preservice elementary teachers, with the major contributors to SciLOC orientation remaining to be identified. A troublesome relationship between expressed attitudes and academic performance in college science is also noted.     

Instructional objectives: What effects do they have on students' attitudes towards integrated science?

The effect of instructional objectives on students' attitudes towards integrated science was investigated in this study. The sample consisted of 291 class one (seventh grade) students who were pretested before being exposed to the experimental situations. There were two experimental groups (objective and no objective) and a control group. A posttest was administered after the completion of the treatment. Results showed that the experimental groups had more favorable attitudes towards integrated science than the control group; the no objective group had better attitudes than the objective group. There was no significant effect due to the type of school or sex of the students. Implications for science teaching are considered.     

The effects of instructional organization and locus of control orientation on meaningful learning in high school biology students

This study investigated the effects on meaningful learning achievement of concept-related instructional organization and locus of control orientation. Two five-week instructional treatments were developed, one which explicitly stressed concept relationships and one which did not. Five hundred and forty-one subjects at six Indiana high schools were involved in the study. Analyses of covariance of posttest and six-week retention test scores with treatment as the independent variable showed no significant treatment effect. Analyses of variance of test scores with locus of control orientation as the independent variable resulted in highly statistically significant differences. Subjects with an internal locus of control orientation achieved more than externally oriented subjects. A two-way analysis of covariance by treatment and locus of control orientation resulted in a statistically significant treatment/locus of control interaction effect for retention test scores. Externally oriented subjects who were exposed to the concept-related treatment generally retained more than those in the comparison group. Internally oriented subjects retained about the same amount of information regardless of treatment group. When the male and female subjects were analyzed separately, the interaction effect appeared greater for females than for males.     

Effectiveness of conceptual change instruction on understanding of heat and temperature concepts

This study investigated the differential effects of two modes of instructional program (conceptual change oriented and traditionally designed) and gender difference on students' understanding of heat and temperature concepts, and their attitudes toward science as a school subject. The subjects of this study consisted of 72 seventh grade students from two General Science Classes taking the course from the same teacher. Each teaching method was randomly assigned to one class. The experimental group received reinforcement via the conceptual change texts while the control group utilized traditionally designed science texts over a period of four weeks. Analysis of covariance was used. Logical thinking ability was taken as a covariate. The results showed that the conceptual change oriented instruction produced significantly greater achievement in understanding of heat and temperature concepts. The result for science attitudes as a school subject showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups. Also, no significant difference was found between the performance of females and that of males in terms of learning heat and temperature concepts and attitudes toward science, but the interaction of treatment regarding to gender was significant for learning the concepts. In addition, it was found that students' logical thinking ability accounted for a significant portion of variation in heat and temperature concepts achievement.     

Determinants of K-2 School Teachers' Orientation towards Inquiry-Based Science Activities: A Mixed Method Study

The purpose of this study was to describe attitudes of first and second grade teachers in Benin, toward school science and their instructional preferences (inquiry-based and traditional noninquiry-based instruction), and determine some factors that could explain these attitudes and preferences. Three hundred (N=300) preparatory classroom teachers (first and second grades) were randomly selected and surveyed regarding their attitudes and preferences. Data was gathered via the Revised Science Attitude Scale, the Science Teachers' Ideological Preference Scale, and open-ended questions. The results indicated that first and second grade teachers have a low regard for school science and low level of orientation toward both inquiry-based and traditional instruction. This means that these teachers rejected traditional approaches of science teaching but at the same time did not accept inquiry teaching as a legitimate alternative. Participants' low level of orientation towards inquiry-based instruction could be explained by three dimensions of attitude; handling (handling of science equipment), time (time required to prepare and teach science), and need (the basic needs students have for science). However, time and handling significantly contributed to their orientation towards traditional noninquiry-based instruction. Four categories from the open-ended responses – perceived instructional practices, student-centeredness of the curriculum, lack of materials and supplies, and training – were used to understand and further explain participants' attitudes and instructional preferences.     

Effect of instructional procedure and pupil locus of control on achievement and attitudes

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of instructional procedures differing in degree of student control on achievement and attitudes of pupils identified as having an internal or external locus of control. Two sixth-grade classes (N=47) were divided into internal and external locus of control groups. Half of the internals and externals in each class were randomly assigned a structured instructional procedure and half assigned a contract procedure. A two-week unit on nutrition was taught to all students, using a structured or contract method. There were no significant differences in achievement among any of the groups. However, the internal-contract group seemed to show a more positive attitude toward the unit than did the other three groups. These results suggest that instructional procedure may not differentially affect achievement of internal and external sixth graders over a short period, but that attitudes toward instruction may be affected.     

Sex,race, and grade differences in the locus of control orientations of at-risk elementary students

Extensive educational efforts recently have been focused on the plight of the at-risk student. A multitude of variables contribute to a depressed likelihood of academic success; among these are poor academic preparation, lack of parental support, and several personality factors such as lowered self-concept, motivation, and confidence. One variable that has not been examined systematically in regard to the at-risk student is locus of control orientation. Two decades of research support the positive relationship of internal locus of control and achievement. To investigate this variable, 643 elementary school students were included in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 6 analysis of variance design. No main effects for sex or race were found. A significant main effect for conditions (at-risk vs. not-at-risk) was observed, with the at-risk students being more externally oriented. In addition, a significant effect for grade was noted, with the trend being for grade (age) to be positively related to internality. The importance of developing a program aimed at enhancing internal locus of control and its nature are discussed.     

Generalizability of diagnostic-prescriptive teaching strategies across student locus of control and multiple instructional units

The influence of locus of control and diagnostic testing with prescribed remediation on immediate and retained science achievement was the focus of the study. To test the generalizability of the results across instructional units and to check on the existence of a treatment warm-up period, the experiment was conducted across three biology units. The results supported the existence of the warm-up period with no significant effects of diagnosis and remediation during the first unit. On later units and on the retention measure, the experimental subjects achieved significantly more than the control. No locus of control X treatment interactions were found; although, in one unit, the internal locus of control subjects achieved significantly higher than externals.     

The effects of a critical thinking oriented instructional pattern in a tertiary EFL argumentative writing course

ABSTRACT

This study introduced an instructional pattern that integrated the framework of the International Critical Thinking Reading and Writing Test (ICTRWT), designed by Paul and Elder, into a tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) argumentative writing course. To measure the effects of the instructional pattern, a mixed methods approach was adopted. Two groups of students were involved in the experiment, with the treatment group receiving the instructional intervention and the control group receiving regular instruction in a tertiary argumentative writing course. A critical thinking test and a writing test were used to investigate the effects of the treatment, and questionnaires and interviews were also employed to examine students’ attitudes toward the instructional pattern. The quantitative statistic data reveals that students who received the instructional treatment outperformed the students in the control group in terms of overall critical thinking skills and skills of identifying and evaluating the elements of thoughts. Meanwhile, the treatment group also performed better with regard to overall writing ability, organization and coherence. Additionally, the data gained from the questionnaires and interviews suggest students’ general positive attitudes toward the instructional pattern.     

Students’ perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal behaviour across four different school subjects: control is good but affiliation is better

Many researchers have pointed out that teachers’ interpersonal behaviour relates to students’ positive attitudes towards schooling. However, only few studies have examined whether students’ perceptions of their teachers’ interpersonal behaviour relates to students’ subject-related attitudes across different school subjects. In this study, it was investigated to what extent the interpersonal behaviours of secondary school teachers are perceived differently by the students as a function of the school subject being taught and whether such perceptions coincide with students’ attitudes towards the subject matter, after controlling for students’ achievement. To address these research questions, 2305 adolescent students (47.1% males; M_age = 17.85; SD = 1.09) from grades 9 to 11 and their teachers (N = 42; 38.1% males; mean years of teaching = 14.2; SD = 1.25) from one urban high school in Turkey were surveyed. The students completed the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction and attitude questions. Multilevel data analysis showed that Control related to positive attitudes among students in classes grouped under the science, and literature and language domains, but not in classes grouped under the arts and sports domain. Perceived Affiliation, on the other hand, was positively associated with all the four subject domains (science, social sciences, literature and language, and arts and sports). These results show the importance of taking a multidisciplinary perspective in in-service training programmes for secondary school science teachers as they emphasise the differential roles that control as an interpersonal behavioural style may play on students’ attitudes in certain subject matters.     

Pupils’ Subject Preferences at Key Stage 3 in South Wales

The perceptions of pupils towards the foundation subjects of English, mathematics, science and technology were determined by structured interviews. The pupils were selected by their responses to a Likert‐type attitude scale previously administered; pupils were banded from the results of the scale into one of three bands: those with positive attitudes, neutral attitudes and negative attitudes towards the subjects under study. Approximately 48 pupils per subject were interviewed for each of the subjects, representing 4.5% of the original survey sampled in the previous research. The results of the research showed a marked predilection for English and games and a lack of enthusiasm for modern foreign languages. There was also little positive response for subjects which occupy a small amount of curriculum time—music and religious education—with art being an exception to this. There were indications that mathematics and science were more ‘love‐hate’ subjects than others. It was found that girls were more forthcoming with criticisms whereas boys were more forthcoming with praise. Overall, there was no evidence that the National Curriculum had either improved or damaged attitudes towards subjects. However, this research indicates that the National Curriculum had removed some of the pre‐existing gender divisions, such as those relating to the separate sciences.     

The Centre for Studies in Science Education at the University of Leeds

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of aesthetic science activities on improving elementary school at-risk families’ children's positive thinking, attitudes toward science, and decreasing their anxiety about learning science. Thirty-six 4th-grade children from at-risk families volunteered to participate in a 12-week intervention and formed the experimental group; another 97 typical 4th graders were randomly selected to participant in the assessment and were used as the comparison group. The treatment for experimental group children emphasized scaffolding aesthetic science activities and inquiry strategies. The Elementary School Student Questionnaire was administered to assess all children's positive thinking, attitudes toward science, and anxiety about learning science. In addition, nine target children from the experimental group with the lowest scores on either positive thinking, or attitudes toward science, or with the highest scores on anxiety about learning science in the pre-test were recruited to be interviewed at the end of the intervention and observed weekly. Confirmatory factor analyses, analyses of covariance, and content theme analysis assessed the similarities and differences between groups. It was found that the at-risk families’ children were motivated by the treatment and made significant progress on positive thinking and attitudes toward science, and also decreased their anxiety about learning science. The findings from interviews and classroom observations also revealed that the intervention made differences in children's affective perceptions of learning science. Implication and research recommendation are discussed.     

The Effects of STS Issue Investigation and Action Instruction Versus Traditional Life Science Instruction on Seventh Grade Students' Citizenship Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of employing an STS instructional model that addresses each of the four goal levels of STS education versus an instructional model containing only life science content, on seventh grade students' participation in citizenship action on STS issues. A modified version of the non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental research design was used with seventeen intact seventh grade life science classes, ten of which received STS instruction (N = 264) and seven of which received life science instruction (N = 136) over 20 school days. The STS instruction sequentially addressed each of the four goal levels for STS education. Data were collected using the Actions Taken on Public Issues instrument to measure citizenship behaviors. ANOVA and repeated measures ANOVA were employed to analyze data. It was concluded from the findings that employment of an STS issue investigation with an action instructional model that addressed the four goal levels of STS education significantly increased seventh grade students' participation in citizenship actions on STS issues. Implications and recommendations are provided.     

Comparing the Impacts of Tutorial and Edutainment Software Programs on Students’ Achievements, Misconceptions, and Attitudes towards Biology

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tutorial and edutainment design of instructional software programs related to the “cell division” topic on student achievements, misconceptions and attitudes. An experimental research design including the cell division achievement test (CAT), the cell division concept test (CCT) and biology attitude scale (BAS) was applied at the beginning and at the end of the research. After the treatment, general achievement in CAT increased in favor of experimental groups. Instructional software programs also had the positive effect to the awareness of students’ understandings to the general functions of mitosis and meiosis. However, the current study revealed that there were still some misconceptions in the experimental groups even after the treatment. It was also noticed that only using edutainment software program significantly changed students’ attitudes towards biology.     

Evaluating the effect of a teacher training programme on the primary teachers’ attitudes,knowledge and teaching strategies regarding special educational needs

Research has consistently stressed that regular school teachers are important in determining the success of implementing inclusive education. It was also found that teachers’ attitudes, their knowledge about special educational needs (SEN) and teaching strategies are prerequisites for implementing inclusive education successfully. This study examines the effects of an in-service teacher training programme on regular primary school teachers’ attitudes and knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies. A pre- and post-test control group design study was set up (N_{experimental group} = 33, N_{control group} = 34), comprising 11 public primary schools. The training programme consisted of 32 hours face-to-face training sessions, covering topics about attitudes and knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies. In order to establish the effects of the training programme, attitudes and knowledge were measured at two moments: before and after the training programme was performed. The outcomes of ANCOVA revealed significant positive effects of the training programme on most dependent variables (attitudes, knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies) with medium to large effect sizes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

The interplay of scientific epistemological views,learning strategies,and attitudes of college students

This paper focuses on research that illustrates the important interplay between students' scientific epistemological views and their learning strategies. We address the problem of facilitating meaningful science learning as contrasted to rote memorization, which is practiced by many students and encouraged by instructional and evaluation practices. We show that when metacognitive tools are used to facilitate meaningful learning, positive consequences in learning of subject matter, attitudes toward science, and epistemological views can emerge. Positivistic epistemology continues to be the subtle enemy to encouraging meaningful learning and constructivist views of the nature of science and knowing. If you're a scientist, you can say that all knowledge is scientific and everything can be based on fact and experiment. I've taken so many science classes that I've started to believe that.     

The Effects of Two Models of Staff Development on Self-Awareness and Attitudes of Teachers with Internal vs. External Locus of Control

This study investigated the effects of two staff development models–role playing and open instruction–on the self-awareness and attitudes of teachers with internal vs. external locus of control. In a 2 x 2 design for analysis of variance, 27 composition teachers were randomly assigned, and subsequently stratified by locus of control scores, to two parallel but contrasting summer workshop programs to test the following hypotheses: teachers in the role-playing group would be more self-aware and have more positive attitudes toward inservice education than would teachers in the open instruction group; teachers of internal locus of control would be more self-aware and have more positive attitudes toward inservice education than would teachers of external locus of control. Significant correlations were found between the instructor in the roleplaying group but not in the open instruction group with regard to self-awareness. No significant differences were found between treatment groups with regard to attitudes toward inservice education; however, significant differences were found with respect to locus of control on all three scales, specifically teachers of internal locus of control showed significantly more positive attitudes toward inservice education than teachers with external locus of control. In addition there was a significant treatment x locus of control interaction.     

Instructional Design of Web-based Simulations for Learners with Different Levels of Spatial Ability

This study, the purpose of which is to determine an efficient instructional design for different levels of spatial abilities, investigates: (1) the main effects of visual treatments in simulation environments on comprehension and the transfer of chemistry knowledge and (2) the interaction effects of the visual treatments and the learners’ spatial abilities. Two hundred and fifty-seven middle school students were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions. The results indicated: (1) a significant main effect of the treatment condition for both comprehension (p < 0.001) and transfer (p < 0.005) tests, where the treatment group performed better than the control group and (2) a significant interaction effect (p < 0.05) between the instructional treatment conditions and level of spatial ability for the comprehension test: Low spatial ability learners performed better in the treatment group than in the control group, whereas high spatial ability learners performed similarly regardless of the instructional conditions.     

Aptitude-treatment interaction research in science education

Individual differences among learners constitute an important class of variables for research on instruction. Their study has been of interest because measures of these variables usually predict learning outcome. There is renewed interest in this fact today because aptitudes now often appear to interact with instructional outcomes, relating differently to learning outcomes under different instructional treatments. Practical interest for science educators stems from the possibility that such interactions may be used to adapt science instruction to fit different learners optimally. Aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI) have been the subject of many studies in recent years and a wide variety of ATI findings are now in hand establishing the existence of ATI as a phenomena. Continuing research in this area will hopefully lead toward improved theory and practice to explain and to use aptitude for science instructional purposes. This article identifies promising areas of ATI research as well as general methodological guidelines for interested science educators.     

Teacher Practices and Middle‐school Science Achievements

We report on the construction and application on an instrument entitled the “Science Achievement Influences Survey” to assess combined effects of student attitudes about science, peer interaction, and home support, and the frequency of student‐centred and teacher‐centred instructional practices on student achievement. Controlling for pre‐test content knowledge, results indicated that student‐centred teaching practices have a positive association with student achievement (p < .01; i.e., group experiments) and a negative association with teacher‐centred teaching practices (p < .01; i.e., copying notes). Additionally, student attitudes about science were positively associated with student‐centred teaching practices (p < .01) and negatively associated with teacher‐centred teaching practices (p < .01). Most significantly, this study documents the predicted gains in science achievement associated with frequency of specific instructional practices used by middle‐school science teachers. Especially noteworthy and significant is the finding that near‐daily implementation of group experiments and reduction of extensive note‐copying during class yield the greatest positive impact on student achievement. Outside of school, peer interaction and home support were not significantly associated (p > .05) with student achievement. The student sample included 611 middle‐school science students with a wide range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.