Cypriot Students’ Attitudes towards School Science: The transition from primary to secondary school

Understanding students’ attitudes towards school science is an international endeavour, seen by researchers as a key part of improving students’ science attainment, science career aspirations and their participation in science related studies. Research studies conducted previously in Cyprus highlight the association between positive attitudes towards school science and Cypriot students’ science achievement. However, studies in Cyprus that provide insights into students’ attitudes towards school science, what are they, what impacts them and how they change as students move from primary to secondary school have been sparse. This study employed mixed methods to investigate students’ attitudes towards school science, if and how they change as students move from primary to secondary school and the factorsthat impact the formation of students’ attitudes towards school science. The study is based on data collected from five primary and two secondary schools in Cyprus. It involved the collection of 539 questionnaires completed by primary and secondary school students (year 6 to year 8) as well as group interviews with smaller groups of students from the same cohort (9 group interviews with 34 participants). In line with certain studies in the reviewed literature, the findings suggest that students’ attitudes towards school science are overall positive, and they do not change significantly as students move from primary to secondary school. There were no significant differences identified between the attitudes of girls and boys towards school science. Teacher and enjoyment of experiments were found to be key factors affecting students' attitudes towards school science. Other factors identified to affect students’ attitudes were parents’ attitudes towards science, science-related career aspirations and fathers’ education level. Students in secondary school were found to have significantly more positive attitudes towards physics and chemistry than biology. Looking at the three attitude domains, students were found to have more positive affective and cognitive attitudes and less positive behavioural attitudes towards school science. This thesis has contributed to the theory and knowledge about the three attitude domains: the affective, cognitive and behavioural regarding students’ attitudes towards school science. It has also resulted in a validated instrument that can be used to collect data regarding students’ attitudes towards school science in Cyprus and other countries. This study has implications for practice and policy makers such as the need to consider students’ attitudes towards school science and the factors that impact them when planning for lessons, the national science curriculum and training opportunities for all the stakeholders. Its findings also suggest the need for more research that explores the attitudes towards school science of students from a range of school settings and considering factors such as the socio-economic backgrounds, parental education and income in a systematic way.