Attitudes towards Chemistry of Chilean Secondary School Students: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

This research investigated the attitudes towards chemistry of 444 Chilean secondary school students, using a mixed method of explanatory sequential design. The descriptive results revealed relatively low attitudes in the two dimensions analyzed, cognitive and affective, although slightly higher in the last one. The inferential results showed that year group and academic performance affect attitudes negatively and positively, respectively. The results of three focus groups allowed to deepen the explanations on the quantitative findings and revealed that other factors such as mathematical calculations, the language of chemistry and the teacher’s methodology are also relevant in the development of attitudes towards chemistry. These findings and their implications for the teaching of chemistry in Chile and Latin America are discussed.