Scientific Attitude

 Scientific Attitude

Scientific attitude is a logical way of thinking of students in response to certain stimulation based on the ethical rules of science. Scientific attitude is often associated with the habit of scientific thinking, which is a way of thinking logically without prejudice and does not accept any information that does not have authentic evidence. Scientific attitude influences the academic achievement of students, because students who have a positive attitude will be attracted to the life of science.The scientific attitude is an attitude that tends to foster scientific achievement.

Scientific attitude can be defined as attitudes that can be developed in science and are consistent, rational and objective reactions when facing a problem. Scientific attitude consists of being curious, rational, restraint, open thinking, critical thinking, objectively honest and humble.

Indicators or characteristics of Scientific attitudes :Each indicator of scientific attitude can be described as the followings:

• Rationality/Belief in cause - effect relationship : Rationality relates to the ability to solve problems using a logical approach, look for the cause of each event, identify causal relationships, trust in science and realize that there will be human error.

• Curiosity : Curiosity is a factor that drives investigation activities. Curious students will look for ways of proving through asking questions, hypothesizing, designing and starting to investigate.

• Open-mindedness: Openness of mind is addressed through the willingness of individuals to revise opinions and conclusions, the desire to accept new findings, rejection of data that is not supported by relevant theories and respect the opinions of others.

• Anti-myth : Anti-myth is an attitude that does not believe in myths and choose scientific explanations to produce scientific facts. Learners try to find the truth of an information through an investigation.

• Objectivity:  Individuals who have an objective attitude will collect and interpret ideas or interpret data and then communicate their findings fairly to achieve an accurate problem solution.

• Intellectual honesty in investigations: students sometimes obtain different findings so as to produce several different conclusions. in this situation, they still take action to report the results of observations honestly.

 • Suspended Judgment : Students having a feeling of dissatisfaction with drawing conclusions before finding authentic evidence or facts that are not supported by evidence and avoiding hasty decision making. 

• Critical-Mindedness: The attitude of individuals who are available to examine and evaluate evidence to support certain conclusions.

• Humility : Humility is a complex virtue consisting of simplicity and self-acceptance. The trait of someone intellectually humble is the way he/she cares about his/her cognitive improvement.

Measures or ways to develop scientific attitude in students:

1. Satisfaction of Curiosity: Children are endowed with a natural gift of curiosity. They are very curious to know how and why of phenomena and events, The opportunities should be given to satisfy and nourish this instinct by encouraging the children to ask questions and have patience in answering their questions in a satisfactory way. They should also be given opportunity for close observation, and experimentation of the things and events for carrying  them ahead in the satisfaction and nourishment of their curiosity.

2.  To get rid of the superstitions. Superstitions arc a great block in the path of the development of scientific attitude among the children. Childhood is a very tender age and children are very easily influenced and impressed by the baseless beliefs and superstitions. Therefore, the study of science and effort of the teacher should be essentially diverted in removing the impression of these false beliefs and superstitions. The teacher should  make out a tentative list of such baseless beliefs and superstitions. He must ask his students to test the validity of these beliefs by collecting relevant evidences and proof mainly based on their self observation, and experimentation.

3.  Proper ways of teaching: If the teachers want to develop in their students the quality of scientific attitude, they must make their method of teaching more scientific. The teachers should encourage the students to carry on independent tests and experiments in the laboratories in a spirit of self-exploration and investigation. The pupils should be made to adopt more practical and scientific methods in their learning process. The teachers should avoid spoon feeding and should not tell them everything instead they should be encouraged to discover and try to find for themselves by their own efforts both physical and mental. They should be lead from known to the unknown by utilising their own previous knowledge to find and explore further aspects of relevant field of knoweldge. There should be no obstacles, and they should enjoy complete freedom in their thought.

4.  Utilising co-curricular activities: Besides giving importance to academic science education, it is more important and essential to provide all facilities for other relevant activities to promote free thought and action to students. Scientific method and scientific attitude should be developed in the students, by allowing to  participate in activities like educational trips and tours, nature study, entertaining visits, science fairs, science exhibitions, science conferences, making of self-devised apparatus, science museums and other meaningful, beneficial and practical hand work. Such scientific activities will go a long way in promoting scientific attitude in our students and must be encouraged.

5.  Proper environment of the class-room: The science class-room, science laboratories and other places of science activities should be well loaded with a sense and spirit of scientific environment. The science-teacher should provide his students complete freedom of expression and action. They should have freedom to carry out their own devised experiments in the laboratory. Such an atmosphere will surely add in the promotion of the scientific attitude among the students.

6. Inspiring for the study of scientific literature: Teachers should make scientific literature other than their academic text-book available to their students. This will be another factor in promoting scientific attitude in the students. The taste for learning science is found in larger extent among those students who have developed the habit of studying extra scientific literature and books in addition to their text-books in comparison to those students who confine their studies to their text-books alone. Therefore the students should be encouraged to study extra scientific literature. Schools should have extra science books in their libraries, such as life of great scientists and books on inventions.

7. Self example by the teacher: It is an established fact that the students emulate their teachers and it is generally seen that as the teacher so are the pupils. Therefore it is the duty of the teachers to adopt scientific attitude in themselves and use scientific method in their teaching. Then  the students will be able to imbibe the much needed scientific attitude.