The effect of incorporating the contributions of Arab scientists into a unit on optics on male grade 10 Lebanese students’ attitudes towards science : a comparative case study.

Abstract

It is important to promote scientific literacy among students, since they are the future citizens of a society that relies on the rapidly growing advances of science and technology. That is why one of the aims of science education reform worldwide is to increase students’ interest in science courses and careers. Research around the world has found that attitudes are correlated with educational and career choices. Several factors have been found to influence students’ attitudes towards science. These include gender and environmental factors which comprise structural variables, classroom-teacher factors, curriculum variables, perceived difficulty of science, and increasing range of subject choice. In investigating curriculum variables, researchers have found that culturally inclusive curricula that feature the contributions of culturally relevant scientists improve students’ attitudes. Very little is known about the attitudes of Lebanese students towards the school science curriculum. This study incorporates the contributions of Ibn Sahl, an Arab scientist, into a unit on optics and examines its effect on students’ attitudes. The participants were male tenth grade Lebanese students randomly assigned to two groups: experimental and control groups. The experimental group’s teaching model incorporates the historical contributions of Arab scientists. The historical part is omitted from the control group’s teaching model. Focus groups before and after the intervention were used to investigate students’ attitudes towards this unit. The results indicate that that participants’ attitudes towards science in the experimental group were positively affected by the incorporation of a cultural role model. The implications of the study’s findings suggest the need for Lebanese curricular reform by shedding light on the importance of culturally inclusive curricula and its effect on students’ attitudes.