Influence of Attitude toward Science, Gender and Locus of Control on Student Achievement in Science

Abstract

From elementary school to the college level, nationwide trends indicate that males are achieving higher in science than females. The aim of this study was to compare the achievement of boys and girls studying 10th grade biology in the public school system. To achieve this a composite survey of attitude toward science, locus of control and achievement in science was administered to 221 biology students in the 10th grade of a large school district situated in a suburb of Rochester, NY. It was found that females were achieving equally as well as males in 10th grade and that females had a significantly more positive attitude toward science (biology) than males. However, significantly more males chose to elect to study science in the 11th grade. This first major split between the numbers of males and females studying science may be due to the cultural stereotyping of the individual sciences and warrants further investigation. A negative relationship was found between attitude toward science and locus of control. A weak but positive relationship was also found between attitude toward science and achievement.