PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY AND SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE AS DETERMINANT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS Indira Sharma INTRODUCTION T eachin g of science at school stag e hel ps in development of scien tic litera cy. It also helps in the for ma tion ofscientific attitude. w hich is essential to dispel social evils and helps in development of open min dedness, decision taking ability. Trainin g in scientific meth od thus impr oves the quality of thinking . OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY *To study the scientific attitude of higher secondary students in relation to sex and three levels of achievements. * To study the relationship among academic achievement scientific attitude and problem solving ability of highersecondary students. HYPOTHESES *There is no difference in scientific attitude of higher secondary students, sex and achievement wise. * There is no statistical difference in problem solving ability of higher secondary students, sex and achievement wise. * There is norelationship among academic achievement, problem solving ability and scientific attitude of highersecondary students. METHOD OF THE STUDY Descriptive survey method was followed and Null Hypothesis was framed. The sample consisted of 240 students ofXI class of Governm ent aided Hin di medium school gover ned by U.P. Board, Allahabad, selected by multistag e ran dom sampl ing . The tools used were : 1) Scien tific Attitude Scale by P.A. Grewal; 2) Problem Solving Abil1ity test by L.N. Dubey. The marks of X Class Board Exam ination were treated as academic achievemen t score of students. ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION The scores of problem solving ability and scientific attitude were analysed with reference to sex (Male & Female) and three level of achievement (HA, AA, LA). The Higher Secondary students were divided into three categories ofachievement on the basis of Ql and Q3. To analyse the data Mean, SD & ‘t’ test and product moment and multiple correlation were used. Study of Problem Solving Ability Score Higher secondary students have shown average problem solving ability as indicated by Mean and insignificant ‘t’ value indicated no difference in problem solving ability of boys and girls. Thus null hypothesis is accepted. It can be said either science curriculum or the way of imparting that subject and may be both are not up to the mark and needs revaluation. To know the effect of achievement on problem solving ability of students the PSAT Score were treated at three level of achievement and Mean, SD and ‘t’ value was calculated. The calculated ‘t’ value of male and female students of the three groups on the basis of achievement is found significant at .01 level except average and low achievement in male group thus confirming the significant difference in problem solving ability among three level of achievement and h ere also null hypothesis is accepted. It w as revealed that high achievers had high PSA in comparison to average and low achievers. Hen ce, it can be s aid ‘that the present curricul um, for hig h school is developin g some attrib ute of systema tic learn ing , th inki ng and reason ing wh ich are help ful in developing the problem solving ability to some extent but not upto the mark as high achievers did possess high value of problem solving ability, but were of average level, so it might be possible that students cram the subject matter and achieve high in examination. Study of Scientific Attitude of Higher Secondary Students Scientific attitude of Higher secondary students was studied sex wise and achievement wise (three level H.A.L.) and the Mean, SD an d ‘t’ values were calculated. It was foun d that the group had average scientific attitude and mean an d insign ificant ‘t’ values confirm ed statistically no difference in th e sc ientific attitude of boys and girls and thus null hypothesis was rejected. The calculated ‘t’ values of male and female students on the basis of three groups of achieve ment inferred the differe nce among HA and L A only. HA an d AA did not differ in their sci entific attit ude as co nfirm ed by insignificant ‘t’ values. Hence, it can be said that hig h achievers have high scientific attitude in comparison of low achi evers; but in reality tha t is of only average level, which i s due to unscien tific way ofPROBLEM SOL VI NG ABILITY AND SCIENTIFIC A TTITUDE AS ... htt p://www.aiaer.n et/ejou rnal/vol19107/17.ht 1 of 2 7/13/2010 5:45 PM
