Scientific attitude of secondary school students of sivasagar district in relation to their achievement in science

Scientific attitude refers to open mindedness, objectivity, aversion to superstitions, rationality, curiosity, etc. It is a way of thinking of a person. A person with scientific attitude is truthful in observation, rational in thinking, objective in observation and action, and free from superstitious beliefs. Scientific attitude is one among the major determinants of students’ achievement in science which has become a major quality parameter of a student living in the present scientific society (Abell & Ledarman, 2007). A number of researchers have revealed that a significant relationship exists between scientific attitude and academic achievement. The justification for selecting the proposed study is that there is no such study done in Assam on scientific attitude and its relationship either with achievement in science or with academic achievement as a whole. Apart from these, Sivasagar district of Assam is a tea garden dominated area and tea-tribes students studying in secondary schools of Sivasagar district are mostly first generation learners. Moreover, a number of false beliefs exist among the people of Assam as well as among the tea tribes as evident from the news in different media. Thus, in the present study, an attempt has been made to study the scientific attitude of the secondary school students of Sivasagar District in relation to their achievement in science. A comparison between tea-tribes students and non-tea-tribes students is made in relation to their scientific attitude, achievement in science and academic achievement. The study revealed that 14% variance in scientific attitude is explained by achievement in science and academic achievement in combination. The study also revealed that higher the achievement in science higher the scientific attitude of secondary school students. The tea-tribes students are less scientific in their thinking than non-tea tribes students.