Students’ attitudes towards science subjects in community day secondary school: a case of three schools in Blantyre, Malawi

Abstract

The investigation of students’ attitudes towards studying science has been an essential feature within the science education research community for the past years. However the study of Students’ Attitudes Towards Science Subjects (SATSS) in Malawi is unavailable. Most community day secondary schools (CDSSs) register high failure rates in science subjects during national examinations and the trend could be attributed to students’ attitudes towards science among other factors since without positive attitudes, students have little chance of learning proficiently. The study used a 130-item questionnaire (α = 0.893) to measure students’ attitudes towards science subjects in CDSSs in Malawi. The data were obtained from 273 CDSS students in Blantyre, Malawi. A sample of 160 boys and 113 girls sampled based on stratified randoming using Taro Yamane’s formula was used to collect the data. Results show that over 54.9% of the students (n = 273) in CDSSs have a positive attitude towards science subjects. Results of the study also showed that gender had a significant effect on students’ attitudes towards science subjects. Girls [Mean = 2.53, and SD = 0.983] had significantly higher attitudes towards science subjects than boys [Mean = 2.28 and SD = 0.883] on total attitude scale and on all sub-scales of the questionnaire. This is perhaps because of girl child education campaign in CDSSs that is encouraging girls to like science and aspire to undertake scientific careers. The following were the underlying factors influencing SATSS: Self-efficacy (SE), Science Learning Value (SLV), Stimulating Learning Environment (SLE), Teacher Factors (TF), and Active Learning Strategies (ALS). However, Self-efficacy, Science Learning Value, and Stimulating Learning Environment were noted as predominant factors influencing SATSS since they had higher percentage of the total variance explained than the rest of the factors. This is because the SLV has the power to determine students’ motivation and readiness to learn whereas the SLE have a direct impact on the learner and the learning process. Finally, findings reveal a significant positive relationship between SATSS and performance/academic achievement (r = 0.720 and p = 0.001). This means that students with high attitude levels towards science subjects registered high levels of achievement in science. The findings have wide implications on learning of science. Key terms: SATSS, attitude, gender, Self-efficacy, Teacher factors, stimulating learning environments, active learning strategies, science learning value, academic achievement.