Attitudes of female participants and non-participants of science technology and mathematics education clinics towards science and mathematics

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes of girls towards science and mathematics. Two categories of girls were involved in the study, thus those who attended the STME clinic in 2004 and those who did not attend the clinic. The simple random sampling technique was employed to select a total of 223 girls from 34 JSS in the Bawku East Municipality, Bawku West and Garu-Tempane Districts. The average age of the girls was 16.4 years with a standard deviation of 1.7. Three instruments were used to collect data for the study. These included the Mathematics Attitude Scale Instrument (MASI), the Science Attitude Scale Instrument (SASI) and an Interview guide. Reliability was achieved for the attitude scales using the Crombach’s alpha. Alpha levels of 0.85 and 0.91 were obtained for the MASI and SASI respectively. All three instruments were validated through expert judgment. Data from the attitude scales were analysed using a t-test, while data collected using the interview guide were analysed qualitatively. There was a significant difference in attitude towards science for STME girls (M = 114.34, SD = 13.78) and NSTME girls [M = 102.83, SD = 14.41; t (221) = 6.07, p = .001]. There was also a significant difference in attitude towards mathematics for STME girls (M = 110.55, SD = 14.13), and non-STME girls [M = 102.23, SD = 14.90; t (221) = 4.26, p =.001]. A major recommendation was that the STME clinic should be expanded to cover all girls instead of just a selected few