| This study examines the attitudes of non-science major students who were enrolled in General Education Required (GER) science courses at three diverse Iowa post-secondary educational institutions: The University of Iowa, Cornell College, and Kirkwood Community College.;The information was gathered using a survey instrument with the test subjects responding with a five-part Likert-scale to a series of statements regarding: (1) reasons for taking the science course, (2) views and attitudes toward science, and (3) the nature and implications of science and technology. The initial data gathered was analyzed using either chi-squared, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and/or Bonferroni tests.;Responses to grouped statements were used to generate population indices related to: (1) experience, (2) attitude, (3) experimentation, and (4) technology. These indices were analyzed for statistically significant differences using Tukey's Studentized (HSD) and Tukey-Krammer tests.;Statistically significant differences were found in the response means for some individual statements. When a population index was calculated for each school using the grouped responses related to attitude, experience, science/technology, multiple comparison testing determined significant differences with regards to attitude, experiences, and science/technology. No significant differences were found between the schools for the population index regarding experimentation.;Demographic information gathered concerning the nature of the student populations included: (1) declared major, (2) classification, (3) previous number of science courses, (4) gender, and (5) use of computers for the science course. Analysis of demographic data also revealed statistically significant differences.;The differences found in this study provide additional quantitative data to characterize the non-science major student. Recommendations based on this data are: (1) The University of Iowa strive for smaller GER class sizes and reevaluate current pedagogy, (2) Kirkwood Community College make class material more relevant and place more emphasis on research, (3) Cornell College utilize full professors in the non-major course and incorporate more technology, and (4) all reevaluate the science GERs course pedagogy, retain the science GERs, maintain the current number of GER science course choices, and, finally, reevaluate any GER science course credit reciprocity. |
