Factors Affecting Secondary Schools Students’ Attitudes toward Learning Chemistry: A Review of Literature

Abstract

Science education is facing a challenge of students who are losing interest in learning science subjects including chemistry. This research provides a review of literature that emphasizes on the factors affecting secondary school students’ attitudes toward chemistry. Thirty-six studies were selected in Google scholar and ERIC database in the time frame from 1977 to 2019. Gender, instructional methods, and grade level were found to be the most common factors positively affecting students’ attitudes toward chemistry. However, students’ interest, classroom environment, the relevance of curriculum, teachers’ behavior, perceived difficulty and self-directed effort in the science subjects were also studied to check if there is any relation to the attitude of students while learning chemistry. The findings indicated that these factors have to be controlled to enrich positive attitudes toward chemistry among secondary students and to improve their performance in chemistry.