An Analysis of the Attitudes toward Science and Support for Scientific Activities of Scientific Gifted and General Students' Parents in Elementary Schools

초등학교 과학 영재와 일반 학생 부모의 과학에 대한 태도 및 과학 활동 지원 정도 분석 연구

The purpose of this study was to analyze the attitudes toward science and support for scientific activities of the scientific gifted students' parents and the general students' parents in elementary school. The objects of the study were 99 scientific gifted students and their parents and 433 general elementary school students and their parents. The instruments for the measurement of attitudes toward science included three scales: cognition :About value of science, affection toward science and science learning, and cognitive participation in scientific activities. The instrument to measure parents' support for scientific activities included two scales: indirect support and direct support. The results of the study showed that the attitudes toward science of scientific gifted elementary students' parents were more positive than the attitudes toward science of general elementary students' parents. Also the gifted elementary students' parents supported many more scientific activities for their children with various methods than the general elementary students' parents. Their preferring support methods for scientific activities included 16 items including the collection of information about science education, the record of TV science programs, purchase of scientific books, subscription of periodical publication about science, preparing material for scientific activities, and reading scientific book with children.