Junior secondary school students' attitude towards school science in aHong Kong co-educational school

Abstract

This study aimed at finding out junior secondary student’s attitude towards school science in a co-educational school in Hong Kong. Eleven items from the survey instrument Attitude towards School Science (AtSS) were used to collect both descriptive and explanatory data on student’s attitude towards school science. The sample consisted of 393 Form 1 to Form 3 students. Their positive AtSS were found to decline with grade level (i.e. declining from Form 1 to Form 3). The decrease in positive attitude was sharpest between Form 2 and Form 3. A remarkable decrease in positive attitude towards their science teachers was also noticed between Form 2 and Form 3 mainly due to the decrease in variety of activities during the lessons. In general, female students were less positive to school science but they were trying harder than the male students because they wanted to do well even though they were not as interested as male students in the subject. In terms of interest, female students were more favorably inclined towards biological science and male students towards physical sciences. Based on the findings, it is suggested that the curriculum and time allocation for junior secondary science, especially for Form 3, should be revised so as to help cultivate student’s interest in science. Also, peer observations can be arranged more frequently to let teachers learn from each other.