World Journal of Educational Research and Reviews

Vol. 2(2), pp. 014-021, January, 2016. www.premierpublishers.org, ISSN: 2326-7221

WJERR

Research Article

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and

secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration,
Ethiopia
Belay Sitotaw1* and Kumneger Tadele2
1*,2

Department of Physics, Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

Co-author email: kumnegert6@gmail.com
The focus of this study was about higher secondary and primary school students attitude
towards physics subject. The population of this study was some of the higher secondary and
primary schools students of Dire Dawa administrative city (Ethiopia), however due to time
constraints and convenience students from three government secondary schools, 2 Private
secondary schools and l1 government and private schools were taken as convenience sample
for this study. The study revealed that students were very much unsatisfied from the physics
teacher methodology moreover students have considered physics as difficult subject and
developed negative attitudes on the calculation part of the subject. The result also revealed that
girls are more attracted on physics subject when they at primary than secondary schools, like
grade 9 and 11.
Keywords: Physics, attitude, students, positive, negative, high school

INTRODUCTION
Extensive research has shown that a persons attitudes
are learned, as opposed to being inherited. Many factors
can influence a persons attitude, including previous
experiences and social influences. Attitude towards
science can be defined as, favorable or unfavorable
feelings about science as a school subject, (Craker,
2006), which is the definition used for this study. The type
of science subjects taken, previous science experiences,
science teachers, and various other factors can influence
these attitudes towards science (Morrell and Lederman,
1998). The impact of a students attitude towards science
especially physics is incredibly important not only in all
grades but also at University level for the development of
a country. Recent released work on the attitudes of
elementary school students done by (Weingurgh, 1998)
has shown that nearly fifty percent of students may lose
interest in science at the primary schools and mentioned
in (Craker, 2006).
Physics a challenging subject, mainly due to the learning
processes involved in understanding physics, which

subject need the learners to deal with different types of

illustrations, such as formulas, calculations, graphics
representations, and also a theoretical understanding at
an abstract level (Saleh, 2014). Physics is considered as
the most challenging area within the realm of science,
and it traditionally attracts fewer pupils than chemistry
and biology. Physics is professed as a difficult subject for
students from secondary school to University and also for
adults in graduate education (Erdemir, 2009).
Participation in science is also being affected, as the
number of students preparing for a science related career
is on the decline (Chapman, 1997). Generally, a negative
attitude towards a subject leads to lack of interest to
attend and participate any activity related to the subject.

*Corresponding author: Belay Sitotaw, Department of

Physics, College of Natural and Computational Science,
Dire Dawa University, Po.box 1362, Dire-Dawa, Ethiopia.
Email: belaysitotaw@gmail.com

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

Moreover, a positive attitude to science leads to a

positive commitment to science that can influence lifelong
interest and learning in science (Simpson and Oliver,
1990) and (Ricardo, 2006).The positive value of science
teaching through inquiry is nearly universal in the
literature, but the implementation of this pedagogy in
classrooms has been problematic (Bian and McPhee,
2008).
As a science, physics plays an important role in
explaining the events that occur in the universe (Khan et
al., 2006). These can be found physical laws and
principles in all events that around us. The developments
in physics in the 20th century, it has been extremely
successful in that it greatly benefited other basic and
applied sciences from these developments (Fishbein,
1975). Although physics is in every area in our life and
facilitate our lives, national and international studies show
that success in physics education is lower than other
disciplines (Gok and Silay 2008; Dieck 1997; Rivard and
Straw 2000, Mattern and Schau, 2002).
The popularity of natural sciences and technologies
especially physics as well as the interest in
those
fields are being declined from year to year in the schools
all over the world as reflected by research studies in
pedagogy (Osborne, Simon, and Collins, 2003). The
main contradiction is however, that the world of the 21st
century cannot be understood and governed; the main
global challenges cannot be handled well without a basic
knowledge of natural sciences (Jarosievitz, 2007).
Physics education is in a continuously evolving together
with the changing world conditions. Therefore, creation of
new learning media in the continuously improving
educational programs helps to improve students attitude
towards physics lessons and physical experiments. This
helps us selection of learning materials and methods
which are essential for effective learning of the lectures.
Attitudes are associated to deal with and management of
the emotions occurring during learning process, and they
play a vital role in directing human behavior. Attitudes
can be part of the system, values and believes. It can be
positive or negative, which affect learning process. It
influences future lives of individual mentioned in (Kaya
and Boyuk, 2011).
According to Ethiopian Education policy, Primary
education starts at the first grade and continues to the
eighth grade. There are two cycles here. The first cycle is
from grade 1-4 and the second is from 5-8. This is
generally taken as primary education. Until 2001,
Secondary education went from the ninth to the twelfth
grade. But after 2001, the government changed the
curriculum so that general secondary education ends at
the tenth grade level, while the eleventh and twelfth
grade are considered college preparatory. At the end of

tenth grade students take yet another national

examination which determines whether or not they will be
allowed to continue to pursue their educations and go on
to college.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Students increasing reluctance to choose science
courses, and physical science courses in particular, in
their final years of secondary education has important
implications not only for the continuity of scientific
endeavor but also for the scientific literacy of future
generations. As a result, development of positive
attitudes towards science, scientists, and learning
science, which has always been a fundamental of
science education, is increasingly a subject of concern
(Trumper, 2006).
The importance of science particularly physics in the
technological development of a nation cannot be over
emphasized. However we cannot lose sight of the fact
that in any teaching learning situation, the students, the
teachers, the curriculum and the learning environment
are the four pilot factors that make learning to be
meaningful.
However, a problem concurrently predominant in schools
is that of students having a poor attitude which makes
the teaching learning process seriously done. As related
to the tenets of this research work, it has been reported
that students academic achievement in physics has been
lowered by the students and teachers interaction and
methodology leads to poor attitude the subject matter.
Therefore, to eradicate this endangering problem, it is
necessary to investigate students attitude towards the
teaching of physics in our primary and secondary schools
and its effect on students academic achievement to
encourage to the higher education.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is: to investigate the attitudes of
students towards physics in primary (grade 7 and 8) and
secondary schools (grade 9 and 11) of, Dire Dawa City
Administrator, to examine the causes of their poor
performance in physics subject and the effect of teaching
on students interpersonal relationship towards physics.
Specifically, the research looked at students attitudes
and beliefs towards learning physics.
Significance of the study
This study enables us to have firsthand knowledge about
students attitude towards physics and how this affects
the achievement or learning outcome of the learners.
This study therefore helps in throwing morelight on how

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

Table 1. Total number of students versus their gender and grades

Grades
7

Male
43

Female
12

Total
55

8
9
11

7
15
9

5
6
3

12
21
12

students attitudes affects the learning of physics in junior

and secondary schools in general and the factors
responsible for the students attitude (positive or
negative) towards the learning of physics is an integral
part.
Scope of the study
This study sorts to figure out the students attitude and its
effect on their achievement in physics in some selected
primary and secondary schools in Dire Dawa
Administrative for both Government and Private schools.
This investigation does not include all the schools in the
administrative region.
Research Questions This study addressed the following
question:

What are the attitudes of students generally

towards physics?

Study Design Sample and Sampling Technique:

The study is a descriptive study of survey type. The
sample for this study comprises of 100 physics student
from 16 different schools around Dire Dawa city in 2015
academic year and they are highly ranked in their class.
The students comprise of 26 females and 74 males. This
design method was adopted because of the purpose of
describing and analyzing the existing condition of the
attitude of students towards physics. The total number of
students in their respective grades and gender is shown
in Table 1.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study adopted a survey method to collect the
required data. The study was conducted in 16 different
schools around Dire Dawa city in 2015 academic year
and they are highly ranked in their class. The motivation
questionnaires were distributed to the respondents who
come from junior and high school in Dire-Dawa
University. Students were required to answer the
questionnaires honestly within 30 minutes, arranged by
the physics department of Dire Dawa University staffs.

The questionnaires were then collected after the students

have completed their answers.
The attitude of students was measured with seven items
with four like type option. A four point scale used was
ranged from SD=strongly disagree, D=disagree,
SA=strongly agree and A=agree. The total score for each
attitude category indicates level of favorably attitude in
that category. The research questionnaires were based
on facts which are students attitude to learning of
physics and teaching methodology towards learning of
physics.
The total numbers of students participate in this research
from 16 different primary and secondary shown in Figure
1. The selection criterion is random sampling based on
the overall performance of students in the first semester
results.
Similarly Figure 2 shows representations of students in
their grades and a total of 100 students are considered in
this study.
Research Questions: Do students attitude generally
affect their performance and methodology towards
physics? The answer to the research question 1 is
illustrated in percentage in Table 6 while Figure 3 shows
the result we obtained from the respondents answers
which is illustrated in chart form. The question which is
distributed for all grades is the same.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In this study, it was examined whether the attitudes of the
students varied according to gender, and grade. This
work confirm that In lower grades, especially in grade 7
and 8 of female students have good interest towards
physics is more than male. It is shown in Table 2. The
result revealed that at lower grades especially grade 7
female students totally have positive feeling toward
physics this is also true in grade 8. All female students in
grade 7 and 8 enjoy when physics class is going on. Few
female students in grade 7 and 8 do not understand this
subject more than other subject and all female students
like practical physics rather than theoretical parts. In this
work Meaningful differences have observed between
attitudes of boys and girls in lower grades, 7 and 8 which
are shown in Tables 2. This reveled that female students

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

Table 2. Students attitudes towards physics in lower, grades 7 and 8

Item
Good feeling toward physics
Enjoy class when it is going
understand other subject more than physics
better understanding of practical physics

Male
11
30
21
30

Grade 7
Female Total
12
23
12
42
10
31
12
42

Male
3
5
3
6

Grade 8
Female Total
5
8
5
10
4
7
5
11

Table 3. Male students feeling towards physics in higher schools, grade 9 and 11

Item
Good feeling toward physics
Enjoy class when it is going
understand other subject more than physics
better understanding of practical physics

Male
4
9
3
5

Grade 9
Female Total
3
7
3
12
2
5
3
8

Male
2
6
4
5

Grade 11
Female Total
0
2
2
8
1
5
1
6

Figure 1. Histogram representations of distribution of students participates in the study

attitudes towards physics subject in grade 7 and 8 is

positive.
Table 3 shows that interest of students in higher schools.
The results confirm that the attitudes of students towards
physics are lower than female in lower grades. The
feeling of male students towards physics, enjoyment of
the class when it going, understanding of the subject and
practical understanding is much lower than female
students in grades 7 and 8. Since the total number of
students who participate in this work in grades like, 9 and
11 are small in number, the result confirm that at high

school the feeling towards physics, enjoyment when the

class is going, understand more than other subject and
practical physics is less than in grades 7 and 8. This
revealed that the attitudes of female students are more
diverted in higher school. This is might be the influence of
peer groups, and the methodology of teachers or the
school environment.
Tables 4 and 5 are tried to show attitude of students
toward physics calculation, the importance of physics and
teaching methodology. Only a few students whose
gender is male in grade 7 hate the calculation aspect of

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

Figure 2. Histogram representations of students in their grade

Table 4. Students attitudes towards physics in lower grades, 7 and 8

Grade 7
Item

Grade 8

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Hate the calculation aspects of physics

The importance of Physics

Teaching methodology

Female

Total

Male

Table 5. Students responds towards physics in lower grades, 9 and 11

Grade 9
Item

Male

Grade 10
Female

Total

Hate the calculation aspects of physics

Not understanding the importance of Physics

Teaching methodology

Table 6. Students attitude towards learning of physics

S/N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Item
I have a good feeling towards
physics subject
I only hate the calculation aspect
of physics
I usually enjoy when physics class
is going on
I understand other subject more
than physics
I do not see the importance of
physics in everyday life
I have better understanding of
practical physics
Our teacher does not used
interactive method of teaching

SD
38

%
38%

D
22

%
22%

A
28

%
28%

SA
12

%
12%

21

21%

48

48%

16

16%

15

15%

7%

21

21%

52

52%

20

20%

9%

39

3%

42

42%

10

19%

36

36%

53

53%

9%

2%

5%

27

27%

50

50%

18

18%

42

42%

41

41%

12

12%

5%

physics, which is higher than the other grade. The

number shown in other grades shows students do not
understand the importance of physics is less. The

teaching methodology has also impact for students

attitudes toward physics in each grade.
Table 6 revealed the fact that physics class is always an

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

Figure 3. Shows the overall students attitudes toward physics on their agreement and disagreement on the
respective questions. As an example the response for the first question shows, students have good feeling
toward physics. This Figure more explained quantitatively on Table 6

interacting class though difficult to understand especially

when dealing with the theoretical part most especially the
calculation and the interactive methodology.
Figure 3 Histogram illustrating students altitude towards
learning of physics in study.

to the content. Therefore, practical methods, which are

the mostly used method that provides permanent
learning, and encouraging mental activities and allowing
students to work individually or in groups and they can
develop positive attitude towards subject.

However, it was revealed from the Table 6 that 40% of

the students have good feeling towards the subject and
72% entertain while physics lecture is going on and 31%
attested to the fact that Physics, though being a difficult
course especially the calculation aspect, is still being
enjoyed by students during the practical session. The
most tragic side of it is that 11% of the students dont see
the relevance of physics to everyday life and society
while only 89% of the students could realize the fact. The
result also shows 52% of the respondents like other
subject more than physics, while 48% of them like
physics more than any other subject. Also 72% confirmed
the fact that they dont entertain fears when the class is
going on while 18% prove otherwise.

Moreover, Physics lessons being held in the classroom

on the sole theoretical basis is one of the factors that
influence attitude of the students toward these lessons in
a negative manner. Thus, physical topics consist abstract
concepts should be lectured in the students daily life,
together with simulations, animations and other videos to
keep the attention of the students alive. Learning by
discovery is better than passive listening, so it should be
shown how to associate physical concepts with their daily
life of the students

CONCLUSION
From the findings of this study, it was established that
students have high promising attitudes towards physics
oriented career subject. However, the poor performance
of students in physics was due to lack of information, lack
of self-confidence, inability to solve physics questions
correctly using the appropriate formula and not been able
to see the relevance of physics to the society.
Consequently, the good ones among the students show
that they have interest in physics class and thereby
developing positive attitude towards solving physics
problems. This means a positive attitude toward physics
leads to positive commitments to science that influence
lifelong and learning in science (Trumper, 2006) and
fulfills the government plan to train most of students in
science and technology. Since in physics education,
various methods and techniques can be used according

The results confirm that there is high motivation of female

students in primary school than male students. This result
match with the work was done by (Saleh, 2014). But our
result also confirms that there is a high negative attitude
toward physics. A negative attitude toward a given
subject leads to lack of interest and, when subjects can
be selected, as in senior high school, to avoiding the
subject or course. Furthermore, a positive attitude toward
science leads to a positive commitment to science that
influences lifelong interest and learning in science as it
was described by (Saleh, 2014). Even studies were
conducted on female students and science found that
significant differences, with females being less positive
towards science (Gokhale and Machina, 2014).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Dire-Dawa University
(DDU) for the financial support provided to publish this
paper on World Journal of Educational Research and
Reviews (WJERR), colleagues at Department of physics,

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

DDU, for their collaboration during the data collection and

the referees for useful comments and pointing out an
error in the original version of this paper.

RECOMMENDATIONS
It has been discovered that there are some reasons or
factors behind the negative attitudes of students towards
physics. It therefore becomes necessary that a positive
step should be taken towards modifying the factors in
other to ensure and maintain positive attitude and boost
students interest for physics. This prospective studies
should be conducted based on a small sample and within
the context to provide better understanding attitude of
students towards the subject and to create conducive
methodology which helps to improve their fear. Also, the
teachers and students have to adjust to new roles which
may lead to develop good classroom interaction which in
turn affect the nature of the relationship between the
teacher student interpersonal relationship and students
attitudes. Finally, we recommend Concept mapping
methodology to establish a bridge between how people
learn knowledge and sensible learning which helps to
develop a critical thinking about concept mapping and the
relations between different concepts for learning and
understanding science and physics. It also helps to
develop positive attitudes towards physics subject
(Karakuyu, 2010),

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Citation: Sitotaw B, Tadele K (2016). Students attitudes
towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

Dawa City administration, Ethiopia. World Journal of

Educational Research and Reviews, 2(2): 014-021.

Copyright: 2016 Sitotaw and Tadele. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are cited.
.

Students attitudes towards physics in primary and secondary schools of Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia