Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at the University of the South Pacific

Johnson, Joel B. and Reddy, Pritika and Sharma, Sushita and Wakeling, Lara and Mani, Janice and Benveniste, Tessa and Naiker, Mani and Brown, Stephen (2022) Attitude and Achievement of First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate Students at the University of the South Pacific. Frontiers in Education, 7 (873571). pp. 1-10. ISSN 2504-284X

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Abstract

Student attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study,we investigated the correlation between attitude toward chemistry and achievement amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students from The University of the South Pacific (USP). A cluster analysis was used to identify low- and high-achieving groups of students to further explore potential correlations. There was a positive correlation between the cognitive and affective components of attitude among low-achieving students, but not among high-achieving students. The cognitive component of attitude did not appear to be strongly correlated with achievement in students from either group, although the affective component was positively correlated with achievement. The single item most strongly correlated with student achievement was their response on the Worthless-Beneficial scale. One of the notable findings was the differences in the attitude-achievement relationship between low-achieving and high-achieving students, suggesting that combining these clusters of students into a single group for analysis may obscure underlying correlations. Chemistry educators should continue to target their teaching styles to cater to different learning styles and achievement levels of students, including cognitive and non-cognitive learning styles.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	first-year undergraduates, chemistry education, attitude, achievement, cluster analysis
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions:	School of Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics (STEMP)
Depositing User:	Sushita Sharma
Date Deposited:	30 Jun 2025 03:14
Last Modified:	30 Jun 2025 03:14
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/15055

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