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Table 4 Descriptive statistics of fourth graders’ attitudes towards science in South Korea, Turkey, and the United States

From: Exploring the roles of students’ home resources and attitudes towards science in science achievement: a comparison of South Korea, Turkey, and the United States in TIMSS 2015

Attitudes Towards Science

South Korea

(N = 4669)

Turkey

(N = 6456)

United States

(N = 10,029)

M

S.D.

M

S.D.

M

S.D.

I enjoy learning science.

(4: Agree a lot; 1: Disagree a lot)

3.28

.80

3.87

.46

3.44

.88

I learn many interesting things in science.

3.37

.76

3.78

.67

3.63

.76

I like science.

3.20

.86

3.86

.49

3.45

.90

I look forward to learning science in school.

2.93

.95

3.62

.72

3.38

.94

Science teaches me how things in the world work.

3.27

.76

3.74

.64

3.62

.75

I like to do science experiments.

3.64

.63

3.75

.66

3.76

.66

Science is one of my favorite subjects.

3.02

.97

3.71

.67

3.24

1.02

I usually do well in science.

2.90

.77

3.76

.56

3.44

.79

I learn things quickly in science.

2.83

.85

3.67

.66

3.23

.93

My teacher tells me I am good at science.

2.36

.80

3.44

.80

3.05

1.02

I wish I did not have to study science. (1: Agree a lot; 4: Disagree a lot)

3.29

.87

3.61

1.12

3.32

1.45

Science is boring.

3.32

.95

3.71

1.09

3.55

1.49

Science is harder for me than for many of my classmates.

3.25

.84

3.32

1.28

3.29

1.40

I am just not good at science.

2.84

1.12

3.53

1.31

3.53

1.50

Science is harder for me than any other subject.

3.29

.92

3.43

1.26

3.43

1.41

Science makes me confused.

3.23

.93

3.48

1.24

3.28

1.42

  1. Data were collected from the TIMSS 2015 International Results in Science report (Martin et al., 2016a)