Science and Society in the Classroom: Using Sociocultural Perspec ...

3. Does the use of a contextualized science curriculum in an urban setting improve seventh-grade students' engagement in the science classroom as opposed to the use of a traditional science curriculum?

4. How do the participating teachers perceive and interpret students' attitudes toward science and students' content acquisition when using a traditional and a contextualized science curriculum?

5. How do the participating teachers perceive and interpret their self-efficacy when using a traditional and a contextualized science curriculum?

Research Hypotheses

The first three research questions necessitated the following research hypotheses:

Null Hypothesis 1

In the population, the content acquisition mean scores of seventh graders experiencing a contextualized science curriculum will not differ significantly from those of the group of students experiencing a traditional science curriculum.

The null hypothesis was tested against the alternate hypothesis (H_a)

Null Hypothesis 2

In the population, the attitude scale mean scores of seventh graders experiencing a contextualized science curriculum will not differ significantly from those of seventh graders experiencing a traditional science curriculum.

The null hypothesis was tested against the alternate hypothesis (H_a)