Students' Sense Of Academic Efficacy And Achievement In Science: A Useful New Direction For Research Regarding Scientific Literacy?

Abstract

A general study that compared the academic efficacy beliefs of seventh and eighth graders from an inner city K-8 school with those from a suburban junior high school has produced data that may speak to enhancing children's achievement in science. The Morgan-Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (MJSES) was developed to gain information about student efficacy beliefs that might relate to school success and makes use of self report grades as a variable. The scale was administered to a total of 570 students from the two schools. Factor analysis revealed two subscales (talent and effort) that are consistent with the literature regarding self efficacy beliefs. The reliability coefficient as a result of using Cronbach's Alpha was .78 for the talent subscale, .66 for the effort subscale and .82 for the overall scale. Correlations between self reported science performance and the subscales of talent and effort were both positive and significant as was the correlation with the scale as a whole. Although preliminary in scope, these results suggest that understanding more about students' sense of academic efficacy and the role those beliefs may play in science achievement may have important implications for both curriculum and instruction.