A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STUDENT ATTITUDE SURVEYS IN EARTH SCIENCE LAB COURSES

Traditionally students enrolled in an entry-level science course such as Earth Science have been required to take lab as a co-requisite to the lecture. A study was conducted in Fall 2008 on two sections of Earth Science lab. Approximately twenty-two students per section were surveyed to determine if there were changes in student attitudes throughout the semester as they participated in the lab learning activities. The anonymous surveys consisted of 32 statements about Earth Science. The statements could be divided into four categories: attitude, cognitive competence, value, and difficulty designed to measure student attitudes in each of these categories. The end of class survey revealed an overall increase in the positive for the attitude of students toward Earth Science Lab and science in general. The majority of students in the second survey (58%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement “I find it difficult to understand Earth Science concepts” as opposed to 39% that disagreed or strongly disagreed in the first survey. There was a slight increase in the number of students who indicated they would consider Earth Science as a career (22% in the first survey and 27% in the ending survey). Some of the survey statements did not measure a student attitude change. The statement that “Earth Science is a subject learned quickly by most people” provoked about the same answers in both surveys (22% in the first survey and 23% in the second survey. The first survey had more students agreeing that “Earth Science is a complicated subject” (30%) than the ending survey (18%). One interesting finding was that more students agreed or strongly agreed that “Earth Science lab helps me understand concepts in lecture” in the first survey (46%) than in the second one (37%). One possible interpretation of the latter result is that lab content did not match as well with lecture concepts as desired. The results of the study will be useful in identifying the changes in student attitudes while engaging in hands-on lab activities and its value to student learning.