Sex differences in attitudes toward science among Northern Sotho speaking learners in South Africa

Abstract

Research shows that although most studies have explored the relationship between attitude and achievement in science only a few have been undertaken to reveal the nature of the relationship between affective variables and process outcomes in science. This study seeks to examine sex differences in attitude toward science among Northern Sotho speaking learners in South Africa. A random sample of 793 respondents (365 boys and 428 girls) in Grade 12 whose ages ranged from 17 to 24 years was selected from 27 schools out of 566 schools in Limpopo Province of South Africa. A questionnaire was administered to pupils during the Physical Science lessons and required almost 45 minutes to complete. The attitude scores of 365 boys and 428 girls were 3.2 (SD = 1.2) and 2.9 (SD = 1.3), respectively. A t-test indicated that the attitude score of boys was significantly higher than that of the girls (t 989 = 3.9, p<.01). Further, the correlation between sex and attitude towards science was .90 (p<.01). The coefficient of concomitance of .81 indicates that sex was associated with 81% of the variance in these attitudes. There is considerable evidence from the findings that males have more positive attitudes towards science than females.