Data_Sheet_1_The Relationship Between Attitude Toward Science and Academic Achievement in Science: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis.xlsx

Science education is attracting increasing attention and many researchers focus on the issue about the attitude-achievement relationship in science, but there is still no consistent conclusion. By using a three-level meta-analytic approach, the aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between attitude toward science and academic achievement in learning science among primary and secondary school students, and to explore if some study characteristics could have contributed to the inconsistent findings with regard to this relationship as observed in the research literature. A total of 37 studies with 132 effect sizes involving a total of 1,042,537 participants were identified. The meta-analytic results revealed that there was an overall positive and moderate relationship between attitude toward science and learning achievement in science (r = 0.248, p < 0.001). The results further found that this association was moderated by the type of attitude and larger effect sizes were shown in self-efficacy than in interest, societal relevance of attitude toward science, and mixed attitude. Moreover, the effect sizes of studies with unstandardized measure to assess science achievement were larger than those with standardized measure. Possible explanations for these findings and its implications for future research directions were also discussed in this review.

科学教育正受到越来越多的关注，诸多研究者聚焦于科学领域的态度-成就关系议题，但目前尚未形成一致结论。本研究采用三级元分析（three-level meta-analytic）方法，旨在探究中小学生科学学习中的科学态度与学业成就之间的关联，并探讨部分研究特征是否会导致已有研究文献中该关联结论不一致的问题。本研究共纳入37项研究，包含132个效应量（effect size），涉及1042537名被试。元分析结果显示，科学态度与科学学习成就之间总体呈中等程度的正相关（r = 0.248, p < 0.001）。进一步分析发现，该关联受到态度类型的调节：相较于兴趣维度、科学态度的社会相关性维度以及混合态度维度，自我效能感维度的效应量更大。此外，采用非标准化测评工具评估科学成就的研究，其效应量大于采用标准化测评工具的研究。本综述还探讨了上述发现的可能解释，以及对未来研究方向的启示。