INVESTIGATING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCIENCE IN THE COLLEGES OF EDUCATION

Emmanuel K Oppong,Isaac Asare,Joseph Parker,Francis Quansah

doi:10.46827/ejoe.v7i1.4138

Abstract

The study investigated the attitude of teacher trainees towards the study of science in the Colleges of Education in Ghana. It looked at the students’ attitude from four main perspectives; their motivation (encouragement) to learn science, their interest (enjoyment) in science lessons, their level of involvement (participation) in science lessons, and the type of interpersonal relationship that exist between them and their science tutors. A twenty (20) - item questionnaire on a five-point Likert-type scale for students was used to collect data on students’ attitude towards science. The respondents consisted of one hundred and fifty (150) students from the Colleges of Education in Ghana, namely Foso College of Education, Enchi College of Education, and Komenda College of Education. The attitude of the students was determined by descriptive analysis by calculating the average (mean) score (X/N) for each dimension (i.e., sum score of items under a dimension, X divided by the total number of responded items, N for dimension). Since attitude students have towards science are influential in determining their performance in science, this study hoped to find out the extent to which students in the selected colleges of education possess the four positive attitudes measured in this study. The result produced indicated that the students possessed none of the positive attitudes towards the study of science.

Highlights

The ever-increasing attention on the topic, “attitude towards science” shows that all is not well with school science and as such far more people are alienated by a subject that has an ever-increasing importance in man’s life, both at a personal and societal level
They added that an early notable contribution towards the elaboration of this topic was made by Klopfer (1971), who categorised a set of affective behaviour in science education as: (a) the manifestation of favorable attitude towards science and scientists, (b) the acceptance of scientific enquiry as a way of thought, (c) the adoption of scientific attitude, (d) enjoyment of scientific learning experiences, (e) development of interests in science and science-related activities and (f) the development of an interest in pursuing a career in science or science-related work
Osborne et al (2003) advocate for a clear distinction between these attributes and the affective attitudes towards science, which are feelings, beliefs, and values held about an object that may be the enterprise of science, school science, the impact of science on society or scientists themselves

Summary

Introduction

The ever-increasing attention on the topic, “attitude towards science” shows that all is not well with school science and as such far more people are alienated by a subject that has an ever-increasing importance in man’s life, both at a personal and societal level. According to Osborne et al (2003), a cursory examination of the research documents reveals that one of the most prominent aspects of the literature is that the research into the topic, “Attitude of students towards science” has been bedeviled with a lack of clarity about this issue under investigation They added that an early notable contribution towards the elaboration of this topic was made by Klopfer (1971), who categorised a set of affective behaviour in science education as: (a) the manifestation of favorable attitude towards science and scientists, (b) the acceptance of scientific enquiry as a way of thought, (c) the adoption of scientific attitude, (d) enjoyment of scientific learning experiences, (e) development of interests in science and science-related activities and (f) the development of an interest in pursuing a career in science or science-related work. It is this latter that constitutes the majority of Klopfer’s attitude components

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Conclusion