Attitudes toward science and science knowledge of intellectually gifted and average students in third, seventh, and eleventh grades

Abstract

AbstractA questionnaire regarding attitudes toward science and scientific knowledge (Yager & Yager, 1985b) was administered to 143 intellectually gifted (IQ > 130) and intellectually average third‐, seventh‐, and eleventh‐grade students. Measures of internal reliability on four attitude subscales and a content knowledge subscale are reported. Three‐way ANOVAs comparing grade, sex, and ability revealed significant differences between average and gifted students in attitudes toward being a scientist, usefulness of science, and, as might be expected, in knowledge of science. Similarly, there were significant differences between grades on attitudes toward teachers and toward science classes, with the most favorable attitudes expressed in third grade, next most favorable in eleventh grade, and clearly more negative attitudes expressed by students in seventh grade. There also was a significant interaction between grade level and ability regarding attitudes toward science classes. In contrast to what might be expected from reported differences between males and females in attitudes toward science, gender as a separate variable did not have a significant main effect in any of the comparisons.