SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE OF STANDARD VIII STUDENTS IN

THIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT

*Dr.M.Kanmani, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Technology, Tamil Nadu

Teachers Education University, Chennai - 97.

ABSTRACT
Scientific attitude is based on truth understanding and logic rather than one based on
superstition, intuition or wishful thinking. Open mindedness of the learners in scientific
pursuit, respecting other’s opinion but at the same time belief only in verified facts,
prevalence of spirit of enquiry, unbiased observation, critical thinking intellectual honesty are
some the characterization of scientific attitude. This study aims to find the level of scientific
attitude of standard viii students. Survey method was used to collect the data. Mean and
critical ratio is used to analyse the data statistically and interpretations were made based on
this. The level of scientific attitude of standard viii students of Thiruvannamalai district was
found to be average.
KEY WORDS: Scientific Attitude , Thiruvannamalai district, Standard VIII students.
INTRODUCTION
Scientific attitude is based on truth understanding and logic rather than one based on
superstition, intuition or wishful thinking. Open mindedness of the learners in scientific
pursuit, respecting other’s opinion but at the same time belief only in verified facts,
prevalence of spirit of enquiry, unbiased observation, critical thinking intellectual honesty are
some the characterization of scientific attitude.
The scientific attitude includes the following habits of thinking, habit of accuracy in
all operations, including accuracy in calculation, observation, habit of intellectual honesty,
habit of open-mindedness, habit of suspended judgement, habit of looking for true cause
effect relationship. Intellectual honesty is the opposite of such habits as exaggeration and
rationalization. Open-mindedness is the opposite of bigotry, prejudice and intolerance.
Suspended judgement is the opposite of the habit of making snap judgements or jumping to
conclusions. Looking for true cause and effect relationship is the opposite of habits of
superstitious thinking of expecting rewards to come without commensurate effort. The habit
of criticalness including that of self-criticism is the opposite of habits of accepting
explanations of phenomena without question, or without attempt of evaluation; it is the

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opposite of the habit of condoning and accepting such things as racketeering, political
corruption, and the like as inevitable.
National Curriculum Framework (2005) suggests science education for higher secondary
students should enable the learner to
i. Know the facts and principles of science and its applications, consistent with the stage
of cognitive development
ii. Acquire the skills and understand the methods and processes that lead to generation
and validation of scientific knowledge
iii. Develop a historical and developmental perspective of science and to enable her to
view science as a social enterprise
iv. Relate to the environment, local as well as global and appreciate the issues at the
interface of science, technology, and society
v. Acquire the requisite theoretical knowledge and practical technical skills to enter the
world of work
vi. Nurture the natural curiosity, aesthetic sense, and creativity in science and technology
vii. Imbibe the values of honesty, integrity, cooperation, concern for life and preservation
of environment and
viii. Cultivate ' scientific temper'- objectivity, critical thinking and freedom from fear and
prejudice.
NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Science is fundamentally a body of knowledge collected through experimentation and
observation and it is both a process as well asproduct. Science forms an integral part of
learning. Essentially it has tobe learnt mainly through concrete situations related to
immediateenvironment. The main focus of imparting science education is onsharpening the
senses of the learners and encouraging them todiscover, observe and explore their
environment and surroundings. Instead of loading the students with scientific information,
effortsshould be made to help them learn key concepts which cut across all thedisciplines of
science. This would generate curiosity and wouldenhance awareness and understanding. To
develop scientific tendencies among learners, in the classroom and laboratories, theprocess
aspects of science like classification, observation,measurement, prediction, communication,
hypothesis formulation,experimentation etc. must be emphasized but due to curricular
constraints like huge content coverage in compact time period andstress to score in the theory
oriented examinations, which requirebelching out on the part of learners, teachers have to
adhere to productnature of science that is arriving at the conclusion without exploringthe
means to arrive at that conclusion.
However specifically, theplausible reasons for such trend may be the substandard
teachingmethodologies being practiced for science subject at primary schoollevel like chalk
and talk method which does not prove instrumentalwith respect to the students' positive
attitude which is indispensable fordeveloping their conceptual understanding of science

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subject and alsoit is not so effective while teaching average and slow learners.Better the
school environment better will be scientific attitude amongthe students in schools. Hence the
investigator has decided to study the scientific attitude ofstandard VIII students in
Thiruvannamalai district.
OBJECTIVES
i. To find out the level of "Scientific attitude" of standard VIII students in Thiruvannamalai
district.
ii. To find whether there is any significant difference between boys and girls of standard
VIII students in Scientific attitude.
iii. To find whether there is any significant difference between tamil and english medium
standard VIII students in Scientific attitude.
iv. To find whether there is any significant difference between government and government
aided schools standard VIII students in Scientific attitude.
METHODOLOGY
Survey method was adopted for the study.
SAMPLE SELECTION
Fifty high students were selected using simple sampling technique from two schools
in Thiruvannamali district.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS USED
A scale on Scientific attitude(SHCH) was constructed and validated by Velladurai
and Kanmani(2018)
Description of the tool
The draft tool contained twenty nine items to assess the Scientific attitude of standard
viii students .
Validity
Likert item wise analysis was used to find the validity of the items. Items which score
the likert value 1 and above are selected for the study. Hence twenty nine items were selected
for the study.
Reliability
Test - retest method was used to establish the coefficient of reliability of scale on
"Scientific attitude" and it was found to be 0.965. Hence the tool is found to be highly
reliable.
Scoring Procedure
For positive items in the SSA marks were awarded as 4,3,2, and 1 and vice versa for
the negative items.
Statistical Techniques used: Critical ratio (t-test) and mean calculated for analyzing the data

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Hypothesis Testing
Hypothesis 1
There is no significant difference between boys and girls in Scientific attitude of
standard VIII students.
Table 1
Significant difference between boys and girls of standard viii students in awareness on
Scientific attitude.

Variable Boys N=25 Girls N=25 ‘t’ value Remarks at

5% Level
df
Mean SD Mean SD

Scientific 48 0.36 NS
95.2 7.52 94.28 9.85
Attitude

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of 't' is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that the calculated value of‘t’ (0.36) is less than the table
value (1.96) at 5% level of significance. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore,
there is no significant difference between boys and girls in Scientific attitude of standard VIII
students.
Hypothesis - 2
There is no significant difference between tamil and english medium standard VIII
students in awareness on Scientific attitude.
Table -2
Significant difference in awareness on Scientific attitude of standard VIII students with
respect to Medium of Instruction

Variables Tamil N=25 English N=25 ‘t’ value Remarks

at 5%
df
Mean SD Mean SD
Level

Scientific 48 3.231 S
51.12 6.69 50.51 5.74
Attitude

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of 't' is 1.96), S- Significant

It is inferred from the above table that the calculatedvalue of ‘t’(3.23) is greater than
the table value of ‘t’ (1.96) at 5% level of significance for df 48. Hence the null hypothesis
is rejected.
Thus, there is significant difference between standard VIII students whose medium of
instruction is tamil and english in their scientific attitude. While, comparing their means
scores, theScientific attitude of standard VIII students whose medium of instruction is
english is better than the students whose medium of instruction is tamil.

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Hypothesis 3:There is no significant difference between government and government aided
schoolsstandard VIII students in awareness on Scientific attitude.
Table - 3
Significant difference between government and government aidedschools standard viii
students in awareness on Scientific attitude.

Variable Government Government aided ‘t’ value Remarks

N=30 N=20 at 5%
Df
Level
Mean SD Mean SD

Scientific 48 0.031 NS
55.88 6.79 46.87 6.73
attitude

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of 't' is 1.96), NS - Not Significant
It is inferred from the above table that the calculated value of‘t’ (0.031) is less than
the table value (1.96) at 5% level of significance. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted.
Therefore, there is no significant difference between government and government aided
school standard VIII students in Scientific attitude.
FINDINGS
The Major Findings of the Study are as Follows
1. 62% of standard VIII students had an average level of Scientific attitude in
Thiruvannamalai district.
2. Boys and girls of standard VIII students do not differ significantly in Scientific attitude in
Thiruvannamalai district.
3. There is significant difference between standard VIII students whose medium of
instruction is tamil and english in their scientific attitude. While, comparing their means
scores, the Scientific attitude of standard VIII students whose medium of instruction is
english better than the students whose medium of instruction is tamil.
4. Students studying in Government and government aided schools standard VIII students
do not differ significantly in Scientific attitude in Thiruvannamalai district.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Scientific attitude and scientific methods are applicable in almost alldomains of
interactions. All academic disciplines pave ways to alearner to practice scientific method and
adopt scientific attitude butscience, as a discipline in comparison to others, offers somewhat
more space for the same. In science classroom, teachers should have concernon students in
facilitating them in developing scientific attitude andstudents should participate in the
learning process by questioning, selfquestioning,cross questioning, reflecting at their own
explanations. Inthe laboratory, students should not merely copy each other's data but verify
the same by adopting hands-on-approach while doing practicalexperiments or activities. Over
the time, such practices may facilitatethe students to develop scientific attitude and score
better in science.

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CONCLUSION
The purpose of the present study was to find the level and correlation of scientific
attitude and school environment of standard VIII students in Thiruvannamalai district. The
study result may be useful in the field ofeducation, which may serve as data base for further
research.
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