| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Null Hypothesis 3
In the population, the mean scores on the observation instrument 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 (Ha)
Definitions
A number of terms with connotations specific to this study were used. The definitions used in the study ascribed meanings to these terms as follows.
Attitude
Attitude is defined as the “the emotional orientation of an individual toward the topic at hand” (Brandwein, Watson, & Blackwood, 1958, as quoted in Freedman, 1997). The study focused on attitudes toward science that are predominantly affective, rather than scientific attitude, which has a predominantly cognitive orientation (Freedman, 1997).
Attitude toward science is adapted from Fennema and Sherman's (1976) four-factor model that defined attitudes toward mathematics. These four factors are anxiety, confidence, interest, and usefulness. Fennema and Sherman (1976) described the four factors as follows: (a) anxiety is feelings of nervousness and dread or bodily symptoms related to doing science; (b) confidence is one's ability to learn and perform well on scientific tasks, with dimensions ranging from distinct lack of confidence to definite confidence (c) interest is the ability of students to stay on task and follow the instructions; and (d) usefulness is students' beliefs about the usefulness of science as currently practiced and its relationship to their future education, vocation, or other activities.