REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN SCIENCE ATTITUDES AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS OF UGANDAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Keywords:
School location, Science Attitudes, Career Aspirations, Ugandan Secondary School StudentsAbstract
Purpose: The study sought to establish the Regional Differences in Science Attitudes and Career Aspirations of Ugandan Secondary School Students
Methodology: The study adopted a cross sectional survey design to determine the influence of geographical region on the attitudes of secondary school students towards sciences. Most of the data collected was quantitative although an interview was carried out on teachers to triangulate information from the students. The 30 senior secondary schools that were sampled were those schools that the National Council for Science and Technology had identified the previous year for remedial assistance in terms of provision of science kits and other forms of assistance. Data was collected during the months of October - December 2016. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme. Hypotheses one, two and three were tested with the Chi-square test () and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was computed to establish the relationship between attitudes towards the sciences and perceived performance in the four basic science subjects i.e. Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics.
Findings: The results show that there were significant differences in students' attitudes and career aspirations in the different regions of Uganda. The Posthoc test revealed that students from eastern region had significantly more positive attitudes towards science followed by western region. Students from northern and central regions had more negative attitudes towards science. There is a positive correlation between students' career aspirations and the careers of their role models. The most popular career choices were medicine, engineering, accountancy and being a lawyer. The region was a strong predictor of science attitudes and career choices of students. The probability of choosing a career in science and technology significantly (0.000<0.01) reduces by 0.67 times for students in the central region. Students in eastern region were on average 0.06 times more likely to have a positive attitude to science relative to their colleagues from other regions although the differences were not significant (p>0.05).
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that investigations are required to establish students' attitudes towards school science, and how interest, self-efficacy, beliefs and other attributes influence attitudes and career aspirations.
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