Attitudes towards chemistry and their relationship to student achievement in introductory chemistry courses

This work reports on the relationship between attitudinal factors and stude nt academic success in the first year chemistry courses. The study covered the 1997 academic year and includes a comparison of attitudes towards chemi stry of first year medical students at two South African universities, name ly the Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA) and the University o f the Witwatersrand (WITS). Students from these two institutions differ con siderably with respect to educational backgrounds. In the investigation att itudes towards science (particularly chemistry) are correlated not only wit h students' academic achievement, but also with personal demographic data, such as matriculation results. parents' educational level, and location of high school. The students' responses to an opinion survey were divided and analysed into five categories: Perception of Chemistry, Difficulty in Study of Chemistry, Usefulness of Chemistry, Approach to Work and Handiness of S tudents. Statistical analysis of the database was done on SAS software. The analysis of statistical evaluation of data is presented. Our findings sugg est a substantial relationship between attitudes and academic achievement. The results also suggest that academic achievement in chemistry is more dep endent on attitudes toward science than aptitudes of students.