Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status

Joshua Matthew Strate; David Devraj Kumar; John D. Morris

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

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Joshua Matthew Strate ¹ ^* , David Devraj Kumar ², John D. Morris ²

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¹ Florida Virtual Global School, USA² Florida Atlantic University, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if middle school student scientific understanding could be predicted by the variables: standardized 5th grade score in science, standardized 5th grade score in mathematics, standardized 5th grade score in reading, student attitude towards science, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. An Attitude towards Science Survey (SATS) and a Survey of Scientific Understandings were administered to 116 middle school 8th grade students during the 2010-2011 school year. SES was a significant predictor of scientific understanding of middle school students since correlation results showed that only SES was a significant contributor to predicting scientific understanding of these students. Low SES students performed lower on the scientific understanding survey, on average, than high SES students. This study can be a source of information for teachers in low-income schools by recognizing potential areas of concern for low-income students in their science classrooms.

Keywords

socioeconomic status
gender
ethnicity
science
mathematics
reading

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2013, Volume 9, Issue 2, 155-165

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

Publication date: 14 Dec 2013

Article Views: 1631

Article Downloads: 933

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How to cite this article

APA

Strate, J. M., Kumar, D. D., & Morris, J. D. (2013). Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(2), 155-165. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

Vancouver

Strate JM, Kumar DD, Morris JD. Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(2):155-65. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

AMA

Strate JM, Kumar DD, Morris JD. Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(2), 155-165. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

Chicago

Strate, Joshua Matthew, David Devraj Kumar, and John D. Morris. "Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2013 9 no. 2 (2013): 155-165. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

Harvard

Strate, J. M., Kumar, D. D., and Morris, J. D. (2013). Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(2), pp. 155-165. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a

MLA

Strate, Joshua Matthew et al. "Predictors of Scientific Understanding of Middle School Students: Socioeconomic Status". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 9, no. 2, 2013, pp. 155-165. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.926a