Page 113 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 113
Excellence in Pupils and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Science
Table 3 Bivariate Correlation between the Factor of Teachers’ Attitudes towards Science
with the Excellence Index and the Length of Work Experience
Excellence index Length of work exp.
N r pN r p
Educational-development dimension . .** . .
of science
Natural science as a driver of social . . . .
development
Positive feelings towards science . .* . .**
–. .* –. .
Negative feelings towards science
Notes *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
provide support to pupils, the third factor can be called Positive feelings to-
wards science.
Three variables were used in the structuring of the fourth factor, which ex-
plains 12.28 of the variance. The fourth factor has saturations on the fol-
lowing variables: In terms of the content, I consider science a difficult subject to
teach; In terms of spatial and material condition, I consider teaching science con-
tent as challenging; and I feel insufficiently competent to teach natural sciences
in the classroom. The fourth factor, given the variables that point to attitudes
towards science as being a difficult and challenging subject, and the lacking
competence to teach it, can be called Negative feelings towards science.
Connectedness between the Factor of Teachers’ Attitude towards Natural
Sciences and the Excellence Index and the Length of work Experience
It is evident (Table 3) that the higher the teachers’ assess the excellence of
their school, the more expressive they are about their personal tendency
towards the Educational-developmental dimension of science (r = 185) and
Positive feelings towards science (r = 137), while the opposite results in Nega-
tive feelings toward science (r = –0.144). The length of work experience is pos-
itively correlated with the factor Positive feelings towards science (r = 0.258).
Developing positive attitudes towards science depends first and foremost
on the way in which schools teach it (Coates, 2009). Research conducted in
the Republic of Croatia (Rukavina, Žuvić-Butorac, Ledić, Milotić, & Jurdana-
Sepic, 2012) speaks in favour of the view that a change in the strategy when
teaching mathematics and science develops more positive attitudes among
the pupils towards them. It is equally important that developing positive at-
titudes towards science should begin as early as possible (Robinson, Dailey,
Hughes, & Cotabish, 2014), with better professional development of teachers
and a curriculum enriched with problem-research tasks.
111
Table 3 Bivariate Correlation between the Factor of Teachers’ Attitudes towards Science
with the Excellence Index and the Length of Work Experience
Excellence index Length of work exp.
N r pN r p
Educational-development dimension . .** . .
of science
Natural science as a driver of social . . . .
development
Positive feelings towards science . .* . .**
–. .* –. .
Negative feelings towards science
Notes *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
provide support to pupils, the third factor can be called Positive feelings to-
wards science.
Three variables were used in the structuring of the fourth factor, which ex-
plains 12.28 of the variance. The fourth factor has saturations on the fol-
lowing variables: In terms of the content, I consider science a difficult subject to
teach; In terms of spatial and material condition, I consider teaching science con-
tent as challenging; and I feel insufficiently competent to teach natural sciences
in the classroom. The fourth factor, given the variables that point to attitudes
towards science as being a difficult and challenging subject, and the lacking
competence to teach it, can be called Negative feelings towards science.
Connectedness between the Factor of Teachers’ Attitude towards Natural
Sciences and the Excellence Index and the Length of work Experience
It is evident (Table 3) that the higher the teachers’ assess the excellence of
their school, the more expressive they are about their personal tendency
towards the Educational-developmental dimension of science (r = 185) and
Positive feelings towards science (r = 137), while the opposite results in Nega-
tive feelings toward science (r = –0.144). The length of work experience is pos-
itively correlated with the factor Positive feelings towards science (r = 0.258).
Developing positive attitudes towards science depends first and foremost
on the way in which schools teach it (Coates, 2009). Research conducted in
the Republic of Croatia (Rukavina, Žuvić-Butorac, Ledić, Milotić, & Jurdana-
Sepic, 2012) speaks in favour of the view that a change in the strategy when
teaching mathematics and science develops more positive attitudes among
the pupils towards them. It is equally important that developing positive at-
titudes towards science should begin as early as possible (Robinson, Dailey,
Hughes, & Cotabish, 2014), with better professional development of teachers
and a curriculum enriched with problem-research tasks.
111
