An Investigation Into Factors Affecting Attitudes Toward Science Of Junior Middle School Students

In China,educational goals of affect,attitude and values has been given more and more attention after the reform of basic education curriculum in 2001.With the further reform in basic education,cultivation of positive attitudes toward science become the core element of modern science education.Junior middle school is the most crucial period to form and develop attitudes in the lifetime.So,both the teachers and parents need to understand the possible influence factors of cultivating middle school students' positive attitude toward science.Based on the literature of China and abroad,attitudes toward science of junior middle school students in the present research has three dimensions:interest in science,enjoyment of science learning experiences and perspectives on science and technology.Using questionnaire survey,we collected the data from 717 middle school students in Zaozhuang of Shandong province.With SPSS 20.0,we analyzed data by using reliability analysis,correlation analysis,descriptive statistics,T test and analysis of variance.The research analyzed the overall level of middle school students' attitude toward science at first,then,focused on the influential variables that affect students' attitude toward science including the personal factors(gender and grade),family factors(parents' education level and parental support)and teachers' teaching.The main results are as follows.1.The overall attitudes toward science level of middle school students is a little higher than the average level.The attitudes toward science and the sub-dimensions are significantly different among different gender,grades,parental supports and teacher teaching.2.Gender has a significant effect on middle school students' attitude toward science,boys have a more positive attitude toward science than girls.3.There is a grade difference among the students.As grade becomes higher,their interest in science and enjoyment of science learning experiences tend to decrease.4.Parents' education level shows no significant effect on middle school students'attitude toward science.Expect the education level of father will significantly influence students' perspectives on science and technology.5.Students' attitude towards science will significantly increase with the degree of parental support,mainly reflected in the dimension of interest in science and enjoyment of science learning experiences.6.Teachers' teaching has a significant effect on middle school students' attitude toward science.Good teaching method can cultivate students' positive attitude.