Developing attitude to science scales for use with children of ages from five to eleven years

This paper reports on the development stages of three attitudes to science and school scales for use with children aged from 5-11 years. The investigation is part of a project intended to improve pupil achievement in science in 16 schools in an English city. The base-line performance of the attitude scales with over 800 pupils is reported. Attitude sub-scales measure 'liking school', 'independent investigator', 'science enthusiasm', the 'social context' of science, and 'science as a difficult subject' with Cronbach Alpha reliabilities for the year groups varying from above 0.8 to below 0.7. For the sample, both boys' and girls' enthusiasm for science declines progressively with age alongside a similar decline in their perception that science is difficult.