Elementary and Secondary Students' Perceptions Toward Science: Correlations with Gender, Ethnicity, Ability, Grade, and Science Achievement

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine student attitudes toward science and the correlations of the
attitudes with the variables of ability, gender, ethnicity, grade, and science achievement. To measure the
elementary and secondary students' perceptions toward science, a modified Osgood Semantic
Differential instrument was used. The attitudes examined were important/unimportant (S1),
valuable/worthless (S2), understandable/confusing (S3), exciting/boring (S4), and easy/hard (S5).
An intercorrelational analysis showed significant relationships between ability and four of the five
attitudes toward science. The students in the high ability group rated science as valuable,
understandable, and easy; whereas, the students in the low ability group rated science as important.
The attitude of exciting did not correlate with ability. Gender correlated with one attitude; males
ranked science as a subject more exciting than females. Ethnicity did not correlate with any of the
five attitudes. Grade significantly correlated with each attitude toward science; the grade comparisons
as measured by the Scheffe test indicated that students enrolled in grades four, five, and six perceived
science more positively than secondary students. With multiple correlation, science achievement
correlated with attitude toward science.