Download or read book Gender Differences in Teacher-student Interactions, Attitudes and Achievement in Middle School Science written by Lynette Eccles and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research has shown that interest in science often decreases in the middle-school grades for both boys and girls, but that more boys continue on the science track in high school and college, leading to males dominating the fields of science and engineering in the work place. The interpersonal interaction between teachers and students, as both individuals and as a group, comprises a large part of the classroom learning environment. Though these interactions last only a school year, they can influence student attitudes and achievement in the long term. Past research has suggested that a key factor in improving student achievement and attitudes is to create learning environments which emphasize characteristics that have been found to be linked empirically with achievement and attitudes. The purpose of this study was to use quantitative methods to validate a learning environment questionnaire (Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction, QTI), to investigate outcome-environment associations, and to compare male and female students in terms of their attitudes, classroom environment perceptions and achievement. An attitude scale, based on items from the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA), and a 48-item eight-scale version of the QTI were administered to 1228 science students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 at one middle school in South Florida. Student achievement was measured using the students\U+2019\ quarterly (nine-week) science grade.