Abstract
This study explored relationships between students’ attitudes toward science and their preferred versus actual experience of cooperative, constructivist-oriented, or direct instruction. The sample consisted of 1334 Chinese middle school students in physics and chemistry classrooms. Results showed that students report experiencing more direct instruction, very little constructivist-oriented instruction, and a moderate amount of cooperative instruction. Attitudes toward science were positively related to cooperative teaching strategies like group work in class or developing small-group projects. There was no significant effect of constructivist-oriented instruction or of direct instruction on students’ attitudes. Whereas previous studies demonstrated positive impacts of constructivist teaching on student understanding of science concepts, student attitude toward school science appears to be more related to social interaction or cooperation. Lack of any statistically significant differential effect from constructivist-oriented instruction might also be related to the overall low incidence of such instruction experienced by our sample.
Highlights
Background and related literatureAttitudes toward science Attitudes toward science are the positive or negative opinions that individuals have about science, based on their perceptions of science—as a school subject, as an aspect of society, and as a human endeavor (Osborne et al, 2003)
The expectancy-value theory aligns with the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE; Schreiner & Sjøberg, 2004) project questionnaires on student attitudes toward school science: ability views, expectation of success, career values, and social values
We reviewed each item in all factors and debated the combined meaning of the sets of items in these empirically-derived factors to produce three factor names: cooperative teaching (8 items, e.g., “Students solve problems or complete tasks in small groups.” and, “Students conduct experiments in small groups.”), constructivist-oriented teaching (7 items, e.g., “Students draw concept maps or other figures/charts.” and, “Students hold a debate during the lesson.”), and direct teaching (8 items, e.g., “Teacher solves problems or summarizes content on the blackboard.” and, “Students learn by reading the textbook.”)
Summary
Background and related literatureAttitudes toward science Attitudes toward science are the positive or negative opinions that individuals have about science, based on their perceptions of science—as a school subject, as an aspect of society, and as a human endeavor (Osborne et al, 2003). According to the expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), a student’s attitude toward school science can be explained by two main factors: the student’s expectations of success, and the value that the student places on success. These include belief about the student’s own ability for school science, expectation for success in school science, and usefulness and importance of school science. The ROSE project has informed several international comparisons on students’ views about and attitudes toward school science
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