Attitudes; Teaching Methods IDENTIFIERS *South Africa

In any teaching situation, it is always possible to identify those students who generally seem to have a positive attitude towards what they are doing, and those who seem less positive. Students ' attitudes seem to feature prominently in many teachers ' and lecturers ' concerns about the effectiveness of their teaching. Students ' attitudes are an important factor in determining their success. This paper reports on aspects of a study which sought to gather information on students ' attitudes toward the study of chemistry. The specific aims were: (1) to develop an instrument to assess first year students ' attitudes toward the study of chemistry; (2) to use the instrument to gather baseline data on two cohorts of students (mainstream chemistry students and students on a two-year access program); and (3) to identify possible areas for intervention and remedial action. Many of the students involved in the study were first generation university students in a transforming university environment. They were often second language speakers of English, coming from a background of disadvantaged schooling with little laboratory experience. Other students were from a more advantaged environment and typically were second or third generation university students. The study found a definite relationship between students ' views and their performance. There were few low performing students with high global means on the testing instrument and no high performing students with low global means. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/CCM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Freshman South African Student's Views on the Study of Chemistr