A Study of the relationship between ten-and eleven-year-old student attitudes and achievement in science

The present study was undertaken to ascertain the relationship, or lack of relationship, between student attitudes, sex, I.Q., and science achievement test scores. It was predicted that students with a more positive attitude toward science would exhibit higher achievement in that subject than students with a less positive attitude toward science. As student attitudes toward science had formulated prior to the study, an ex post facto design seemed most appropriate. The sample consisted of 32 ten-and eleven-year-old children in a fifth-sixth grade self-contained classroom in West-Central Los Angeles. The study was conducted from January, 1976, through March, 1976. The students were divided into groups on the basis of high (upper 1/2) and low (lower 1/2) attitude scores on the Projective Tests of Attitudes test of science attitudes; high (upper 1/2) and low (lower 1/2) I.Q. scores as registered in their cumulative records; and according to their sex. These divisions were for the purpose of comparison with achievement scores, employing the t-test for significance where scores met the function of normal distribution. The findings indicated that the children in the high attitude group scored significantly higher than those in the low attitude group on the Above and Beyond science achievement test. However, there was no significant difference between either the high and low I. Q. groups, or the boys and the girls on the science achievement test. The study concluded that the science achievement was most related to the children's attitude toward science, rather than to their sex or I.Q. Recommendations were made for future studies and for the possible use of attitude measurements in the public schools.