ATTITUDES TOWARD SCIENCE OF URBAN 7TH-GRADE LIFE-SCIENCE STUDENTS OVER TIME, AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO FUTURE-PLANS, FAMILY, TEACHER, CURRICULUM, AND SCHOOL

This study was conducted to determine changes in attitude toward scien ce over time from the end of the first semester to the end of the seco nd semester among seventh-grade life science students in a southeaster n urban school system. The average attitude toward science of the 299 seventh graders changed from an undecided to a positive attitude towar d science: 54 percent of the student sample remained the same in their attitude toward science, 46 percent had a change in attitude, 36 perc ent maintained a positive attitude toward science, and 20 percent of t he student sample changed from a negative or undecided attitude to a p ositive attitude. Forty-four percent of the sample ended with a negati ve or undecided attitude toward science. Attitudinal subscales for thi s study included attitude toward the science teacher, science curricul um, and school. Significant relationships were found among the attitud inal subscales.