Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific
Student attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the correlation between atti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.873571/full |
| _version_ | 1818275201029242880 |
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| author | Joel Johnson Pritika Reddy Sushita Sharma Lara Wakeling Janice Mani Tessa Benveniste Mani Naiker Stephen Brown |
| author_facet | Joel Johnson Pritika Reddy Sushita Sharma Lara Wakeling Janice Mani Tessa Benveniste Mani Naiker Stephen Brown |
| author_sort | Joel Johnson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Student attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the correlation between attitude toward chemistry and achievement amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students from The University of the South Pacific (USP). A cluster analysis was used to identify low- and high-achieving groups of students to further explore potential correlations. There was a positive correlation between the cognitive and affective components of attitude among low-achieving students, but not among high-achieving students. The cognitive component of attitude did not appear to be strongly correlated with achievement in students from either group, although the affective component was positively correlated with achievement. The single item most strongly correlated with student achievement was their response on the Worthless-Beneficial scale. One of the notable findings was the differences in the attitude-achievement relationship between low-achieving and high-achieving students, suggesting that combining these clusters of students into a single group for analysis may obscure underlying correlations. Chemistry educators should continue to target their teaching styles to cater to different learning styles and achievement levels of students, including cognitive and non-cognitive learning styles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T22:25:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-41aaca041a474668aff9f709df950536 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-284X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T22:25:59Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-41aaca041a474668aff9f709df9505362022-12-22T00:09:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2022-04-01710.3389/feduc.2022.873571873571Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South PacificJoel Johnson0Pritika Reddy1Sushita Sharma2Lara Wakeling3Janice Mani4Tessa Benveniste5Mani Naiker6Stephen Brown7School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, AustraliaSchool of Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, FijiSchool of Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, FijiSchool of Science, Psychology and Sport, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, AustraliaSchool of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, AustraliaSchool of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, AustraliaDepartment of Interprofessional Health Studies, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New ZealandStudent attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the correlation between attitude toward chemistry and achievement amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students from The University of the South Pacific (USP). A cluster analysis was used to identify low- and high-achieving groups of students to further explore potential correlations. There was a positive correlation between the cognitive and affective components of attitude among low-achieving students, but not among high-achieving students. The cognitive component of attitude did not appear to be strongly correlated with achievement in students from either group, although the affective component was positively correlated with achievement. The single item most strongly correlated with student achievement was their response on the Worthless-Beneficial scale. One of the notable findings was the differences in the attitude-achievement relationship between low-achieving and high-achieving students, suggesting that combining these clusters of students into a single group for analysis may obscure underlying correlations. Chemistry educators should continue to target their teaching styles to cater to different learning styles and achievement levels of students, including cognitive and non-cognitive learning styles.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.873571/fullfirst-year undergraduateschemistry educationattitudeachievementcluster analysis |
| spellingShingle | Joel Johnson Pritika Reddy Sushita Sharma Lara Wakeling Janice Mani Tessa Benveniste Mani Naiker Stephen Brown Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific Frontiers in Education first-year undergraduates chemistry education attitude achievement cluster analysis |
| title | Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific |
| title_full | Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific |
| title_fullStr | Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific |
| title_short | Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at The University of the South Pacific |
| title_sort | attitude and achievement of first year chemistry undergraduate students at the university of the south pacific |
| topic | first-year undergraduates chemistry education attitude achievement cluster analysis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.873571/full |
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