The Relevance of Science Education (ROSE): Middle adolescent students’ interests, experiences and attitudes towards science in the Bahamas

Abstract

The bulk of research in science education has focused on the cognitive side of teaching and learning by examining students’ acquired science knowledge and skills. There is growing recognition of affective dimensions (interests and attitudes) in science learning and how students’ science experiences relate to their perceptions of science relevancy. This study surveyed (N = 1105) middle adolescent aged (14 to 16) Bahamian students with the aim to investigate relevancy of science and technology using an international metric, the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) questionnaire. The importance of this research is to address a dearth of research on students’ science experiences and science perceptions in The Bahamas, especially at country level and related to affect, exploring differences among students by gender, where they live (rural, urban) and the type of school they attend (private, public). Descriptive statistics and independent sample 2-tailed t-tests were used to ascertain statistical significance in the differences of items’ means at p ≤ 0.05. Results indicated statistically significant differences between gender for several items: males showed more positive affect towards science and technology than females; this and other findings from the study parallels many stereotypical norms often documented in the literature between males and females. Statistically significant differences for school type and geography showed that overall, private school and urban students reported more positive affect towards science and technology than their public school and rural peers. Implications for policy and practice as well as future avenues for research are explored as to improve science education in The Bahamas by improving students’ access to science and technology capital and strengthening students’ participation in robust out-of-school science experiences.