Developing Science Observation Skills

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (7) ◽  
pp. 517-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Sammet ◽  
Daniel Dreesmann
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
School Students ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Class Level ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Learning Enjoyment ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Science Classes

Acorn ants (genus Temnothorax) are a powerful model organism for illustrating the variety of interactions in an ecosystem. We developed five teaching units with acorn ants as the exemplary insect. The aim of this study was to provide a quantitative and qualitative analysis of secondary school students’ attitudes before and after teaching units. Students (N = 459) from 22 classes participated in the study. Students’ attitudes were measured using a two-stage test design. We investigated the influence of class level, gender, teaching units, and time period of participation on students’ attitudes. Additionally, we surveyed a subsample of students on their learning enjoyment in 10-minute interviews. The findings suggest that students’ previous investigations with insects in science classes had been few. The results indicate an influence of gender, time period, and the autonomous keeping of ants on attitudes toward the social insects. Although no changes in attitudes were observed for students of lower and higher secondary school, students at the intermediate level had slightly higher attitude scores on the posttest than on the pretest. The majority of students evaluated teaching units positively. Our findings suggest that ant research may offer new opportunities for directing students’ attention to native woodland inhabitants.

Another Look at Secondary School Students' Attitudes toward Reading

1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramon Lewis ◽  
William H. Teale
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Attitudes Toward Reading ◽  
School Students ◽  
Peer Ratings ◽  
Validity Data ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Students Attitudes

Argues that secondary school students' attitudes toward reading may be conceptualized multi-dimensionally as consisting of Individual Development, Utilitarian, and Enjoyment factors. Describes the development of self-report scales designed to measure each of these dimensions of reading attitude. Factor analyses showed the dimensions to be distinguishable empirically one from the other. The three scales were found to be internally consistent (α = .69-.92) and stable (α = .72-.90). Concurrent validity data based on peer ratings are also provided. Implications for pedagogical and research issues arising from this conceptualization of attitude toward reading are also discussed.

scholarly journals Examination of Social Media Attitudes and Loneliness Levels of Secondary Education Students with Regard to Gender and Sport

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Gaye Erkmen ◽  
Mehmet Altin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
Education Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Test Analysis ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes

The purpose of the study was to examine secondary school students' attitudes towards social media and their loneliness levels in terms of gender and whether they do sports or not. The sample of the study consisted of 175 female and 269 male secondary school stıdents. To collect data personal information form, Social Media Attitude Scale (Otrar ve Argın, 2013) and UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980) were used to in this study. Independent t test analysis was conducted to examine whether the participants' social media attitudes and loneliness levels differed with regard to gender and do sport. According to the results, there was no significant difference in social media attitudes (t = -.832, p > .05) with regard to gender. However, loneliness levels of the participants seems to be significantly different with regard to gender (t = -6.513, p = .000). When the participants were examined whether they do sports or not, there was not any significant difference in social media attitudes (t = -.427, p> .05). However, the levels of loneliness was significantly found to be different in terms of doing sports or not (t = -3.675, p = .000). Furthermore, there was not a significant relationship between social media attitudes and loneliness (p > .05). It can be concluded that sport and regular physical activity can be considered as a means to provide environments where individuals will feel far away from the feeling of loneliness and that they will feel themselves more valuable. 

scholarly journals PERCEPTIONS OF SPEECH COMPETENCES IN FIRST AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS (Percepcija govornih kompetencija u materinskome i stranome jeziku kod učenika završnih razreda srednje škole)

2019 ◽  
Vol X (28) ◽  
pp. 203-224
Author(s):  
Ivana Odža ◽  
Mirjana Matea Kovač
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Grammar School ◽  
School Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Speech Disfluency ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge ◽  
Speaking Skills

The paper examines the attitudes of secondary school students, e. g. grammar school and craftmanship secondary school, toward their own language competences in the native (Croatian) and foreign (English) language. The testing instrument is a questionnaire with statements compiled according to questionnaires used to study attitudes toward the native and / or foreign language. The aim of the research is to observe the level of awareness of the respondents about their own language competences. The results of the statistical analysis indicate that the students of both populations are satisfied with their speaking skills in both languages. They also claim to recognize their own errors, as well as the errors and speech disfluencies of others. Grammar school students, unlike students from the craftmanship secondary school, find the introduction of a course that would further develop speaking skills useful. The obtained results are not in line with the dominant curricular guidelines for teaching the native language, especially those related to the area of speaking competences, emphasizing the need to strengthen the basic, spoken, and consequently written competences of students. The reasons for such attitudes could be explained by insufficient knowledge of the underlying features of highly developed communication competence and consequently of insufficient awareness of their own, as a necessary prerequisite for successful interaction in the contemporary society. The research results point to the necessity of acquiring a more objective perception of students about their own language competences. Keywords: speaking competences; speech errors; speech disfluency; students’ attitudes.

scholarly journals Construcción y validación de un instrumento para la medida de las actitudes hacia la Expresión Corporal (Construction and validation of an instrument for measuring attitudes towards Body Expression)

Retos ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 443-451
Author(s):  
José Roberto Arias García ◽  
Beatriz Fernández Díez ◽  
Cristina San Emeterio García
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
School Students ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Para Determinar ◽  
Body Expression

El interés por el estudio de las actitudes de los estudiantes hacia una materia reside en buscar mejorar la enseñanza. Este trabajo da a conocer un instrumento de medida de las actitudes hacia la Expresión Corporal tras un proceso de elaboración y validación. El resultado es un cuestionario estructurado en cuatro factores y 32 ítems dirigido a los estudiantes de Secundaria. El proceso de creación supuso el análisis de la validez de contenido, validez de constructo y fiabilidad. La validez de contenido se llevó a cabo siguiendo la fórmula de Lawshe para analizar la información aportada por un grupo de expertos. La validez de constructo supuso un análisis factorial de los datos extraídos del estudio piloto llevado a cabo. Para determinar la fiabilidad se tuvo en cuenta el cálculo del estadístico alfa de Cronbach. Terminado el proceso de construcción, el resultado es un instrumento de medición de las actitudes hacia la Expresión Corporal de los alumnos de Educación Secundaria. Abstract. The center of interest of studying students’ attitudes towards a subject lies in its possibility to improve the teaching process. This work reveals an instrument to measure attitudes towards Corporal Expression, after a process of elaboration and validation. As a result, we make a questionnarie aimed at Secondary School students and structured into four factors and 32 items known. The building process of the questionnarie consisted of content validity analysis, construct validity, and reliability. Content validity was carried out following the Lawshe formula to analyze the information provided by the group of experts. Construct validity involved a factorial analysis of the data extracted from a pilot study. In order to check reliability, Cronbach alpha statistical calculation was taken into consideration. At the end of this procedure, we obtain an instrument for measuring attitudes towards Corporal Expression in Secondary School Students as the main result.

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