The Relationships among Elementary School Students' Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Characteristics Related to Science Learning and Their Perceptions toward Scientific and/or Technological Professions

초등학생들의 과학 학습과 관련된 인지적, 정의적, 행동적 특성과 과학기술 관련 직업에 대한 인식의 관계

In this study, we investigated the elementary school students' perceptions toward scientific and/or technological professions in the views of accuracy, complexity, and diversity, and compared them by the students' grades and their science-related career aspiration levels. We also studied the relationships among the students' perceptions toward scientific and/or technological professions and their cognitive (science achievement), affective (enjoyment of science lessons, attitude to scientific inquiry, self-efficacy), and behavioral (participation in science-related activity) characteristics. The subjects were 369 students of 4th and 6th grades at three elementary schools in Seoul. The results revealed that the students were relatively well aware of what works and professions in science and/or technology were, but they did not have good understanding of them in the views of complexity and diversity. The 6th graders had better perceptions toward science and/or technological professions than 4th graders, although they showed the lower scores of attitude to scientific inquiry. Moreover, the higher science-related career aspirations were, the higher scores in all tests of the perceptions and the personal characteristics were. The students' perceptions toward scientific and/or technological professions were found to have relationships with their cognitive, affective, and behavioral characteristics. The multiple regression analysis of the personal characteristics on the perceptions toward scientific and/or technological professions indicated that science-related activity, science achievement, and self-efficacy were significant predictors. Educational implications are discussed.