The impact of a summer Upward Bound Mathematics and Science program on student attitudes and beliefs

This Project Demonstrating Excellence documents a study which was undertaken during 1998 on the impact of a summer Upward Bound Mathematics and Science (UBMS) program on students' attitudes toward science and students' beliefs in the nature of science. The students were 25 high school students enrolled in a UBMS program, Success in Understanding Math and Science (SUMS), at a college in the upper Midwestern United States. The research questions were: (1) What are the attitudes toward science and mathematics which students bring to the SUMS summer program? (2) What beliefs do these students bring about the nature and implications of science and technology? and (3) Do students' attitudes and/or beliefs change significantly during the six-week summer institute? Identical surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the summer institute. Each survey was composed of two parts, the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey/Science Student Form (CLES) and the Nature and Implications of Science/Technology Student Form (NIST). The results were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.; Students entered the six-week summer institute with attitudes toward science which were significantly higher than neutral on five of the six scales of the CLES and on the four scales of the NIST, showing positive attitudes and beliefs about science and their science learning environment. One scale on the CLES, the Shared Control scale, had lower than neutral scores in the pre-test. The scores on this scale rose significantly during the institute, but were still below the neutral score at the end. The scores on the other scales of the CLES and the NIST did not rise significantly. The students were a self-selected group who had chosen to enter the SUMS program, which may account for their high entering perceptions and the lack of significant positive gains.