ERIC Number: EJ990517
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Apr
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1306-3065
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Greek Secondary School Students' Views about Biology
Mavrikaki, Evangelia; Koumparou, Helen; Kyriakoudi, Margarita; Papacharalampous, Irene; Trimandili, Maria
International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, v7 n2 p217-232 Apr 2012
This paper aims to give a picture of Greek students' views about biology and some of the factors that affect them. A questionnaire measuring students' intrinsic motivation to learn biology, individual interest in biology and perceived difficulty of biology, along with information about students' gender, level, parents' occupation and educational level was administered to 368 Greek students. Results revealed that Greek secondary school students have almost neutral overall views about biology: they are slightly positive about biology's usefulness in their lives, perceive it as rather easy, but 26.4% finds no interest in it. Gender does not seem to affect students' overall views about biology, neither their scores in any of the subscales--biology in Greece is as popular among boys as among girls. Younger and older students differ only in their perceived difficulty of biology, with the older students considering it more difficult than the younger ones. Parents' educational level (both mothers and fathers are taken into account) is important in affecting only students' intrinsic motivation, since the more educated a parent is the higher intrinsic motivation a student has towards biology. Parents' occupation does not affect students' views about biology. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Learning Motivation, Student Attitudes, Secondary School Students, Gender Bias, Biology, Foreign Countries, Questionnaires, Age Differences, Educational Attainment, Parent Background
International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication. Abant Izzet Baysal University, Faculty of Education, 14280 Golkoy-Bolu, Turkey. e-mail: editorijese@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.ijese.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Greece
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A