Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments

This thesis describes a study of the attitudes towards science and learning environments among junior secondary school science students in New Zealand, focussing particularly on Maori and Pacific Island students. The rationale for the research was that ethnic minority group students often experience...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lillis, David A.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Curtin University 1999
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/949
_version_ 1848743527873249280
author Lillis, David A.
author_facet Lillis, David A.
author_sort Lillis, David A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This thesis describes a study of the attitudes towards science and learning environments among junior secondary school science students in New Zealand, focussing particularly on Maori and Pacific Island students. The rationale for the research was that ethnic minority group students often experience difficulties in adapting to modern science education. The study was restricted to forms three, four and five of the New Zealand education system in order to focus attention primarily on the development of recommendations for enhancement of science education outcomes which relate to the early years of science education.The study aimed to investigate student attitudes towards science and their perceptions of their learning environments by using questionnaire surveys and interviews in order to produce complementary information about students' attitudes and perceptions. The study produced some unexpected findings. For example, Maori and Pacific Island students displayed more positive attitudes towards science than others, and female students displayed more positive attitudes than males. These findings contradict those of many previous studies.The findings of the study are used to provide input to the development of recommendations for the enhancement of educational outcomes for all students, but especially for ethnic minority students in science.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T05:47:00Z
format Thesis
id curtin-20.500.11937-949
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T05:47:00Z
publishDate 1999
publisher Curtin University
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-9492017-02-20T06:42:03Z Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments Lillis, David A. secondary school Maori students Pacific Island students science education attitudes New Zealand This thesis describes a study of the attitudes towards science and learning environments among junior secondary school science students in New Zealand, focussing particularly on Maori and Pacific Island students. The rationale for the research was that ethnic minority group students often experience difficulties in adapting to modern science education. The study was restricted to forms three, four and five of the New Zealand education system in order to focus attention primarily on the development of recommendations for enhancement of science education outcomes which relate to the early years of science education.The study aimed to investigate student attitudes towards science and their perceptions of their learning environments by using questionnaire surveys and interviews in order to produce complementary information about students' attitudes and perceptions. The study produced some unexpected findings. For example, Maori and Pacific Island students displayed more positive attitudes towards science than others, and female students displayed more positive attitudes than males. These findings contradict those of many previous studies.The findings of the study are used to provide input to the development of recommendations for the enhancement of educational outcomes for all students, but especially for ethnic minority students in science. 1999 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/949 en Curtin University fulltext
spellingShingle secondary school
Maori students
Pacific Island students
science education
attitudes
New Zealand
Lillis, David A.
Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments
title Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments
title_full Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments
title_fullStr Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments
title_full_unstemmed Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments
title_short Ethnic minority science students in New Zealand : attitudes and learning environments
title_sort ethnic minority science students in new zealand : attitudes and learning environments
topic secondary school
Maori students
Pacific Island students
science education
attitudes
New Zealand
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/949