Research in Science & Technological Education Vol. 27, No. 2, July 2009, 205–223
Working memory and attitudes Eun Sook Junga and Norman Reidb* a
Dangsan Middle School, South Korea; bUniversity of Glasgow, UK
Research 10.1080/02635140902853665 CRST_A_385538.sgm 0263-5143 Original Taylor 202009 27 N.Reid@mis.gla.ac.uk NormanReid 000002009 and & Article in Francis (print)/1470-1138 Francis Science & Technological (online) Education
Working memory capacity has been shown to be an important factor in controlling understanding in the sciences. Attitudes related to studies in the sciences are also known to be important in relation to success in learning. It might be argued that if working memory capacity is a rate controlling feature of learning and success in understanding leads to more positive attitudes, then working memory capacity might be associated with more positive attitudes. This study explores this with 714 school students (aged 12 and 14) taking science in typical schools in South Korea. Working memory capacity was measured by the figural intersection test while attitudes were explored using a questionnaire. It was found that, in general, working memory space is correlated more significantly with students’ attitudes towards studies in science than attitudes towards scientists while students who have low working memory capacity tend to express consistently more negative views about their studies. Of considerable importance is the observation that students who have high working memory capacity tend to try to understand science knowledge while students who have low working memory capacity tend more to try to memorise science knowledge. Keywords: working memory capacity; attitudes; understanding and memorising
Background It is well established that working memory is a rate determining feature in learning when learning is described in terms of understanding (see Danili and Reid 2004). Most studies have tended to focus particularly on subjects like the sciences and mathematics where correlations between examination and test performance and working memory capacity tend to lie between 0 and 0.6. Indeed, the highest ones found in the mathematics–sciences areas related to genetics where in a study involving 141 students aged about 13, correlations of 0.61 and 0.62 were obtained for two tests in genetics (Chu 2008). At the other end, in a mathematics test looking at arithmetic story problems with pupils aged about 10–11, a correlation of zero was found in a test which had been specifically designed so that no question made any demand on the working memory (Reid 2002). This illustrates an important point: working memory measurements will only correlate with test and examination performance if the questions asked are such that students with higher working memory capacities have an advantage. This is nothing to do with test difficulty, as the study by Pamela Reid (2002) showed. Her test was not easy and the marks were not that good. Yet a correlation of zero was obtained. This point was first established clearly by the work of Johnstone and El-Banna (1986, 1989). *Corresponding author. Email: n.reid@mis.gla.ac.uk. ISSN 0263-5143 print/ISSN 1470-1138 online © 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02635140902853665 http://www.informaworld.com
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Very little work has been done to look at the possible effects of working memory capacity on other aspects of the learning process. This paper describes a study where the relationship between working memory capacity and attitudes are explored. First of all, the nature and place of attitudes in science education is discussed briefly. Attitudes in science education Attitudes are important as King (1989) notes: As the details of scientific formulae fall away in the months and years after school, it seems likely that the crucial deposits of science and technology education are to do with attitudes, approaches and even values. (King 1989, 51)
Many children enter school with great interest in science but the experience of school science makes them feel science is unattractive, with attitude deteriorating rapidly (Hadden and Johnstone 1982, 1983a, b). The real problem is such impressions of school science persist much longer than any memories of Newton’s Law, the formula for sodium chloride or the characteristics of living things (Jonathan et al. 1998). The real danger is that a negative atmosphere in relation to science is generated as a result of a knowledge-centred, difficult and boring science education. Many years ago, Gardner (1983, 2) stated that: We live in a golden age of science and technology, an age of space walks, satellite communication, and amazing advances in computing, in medicine, in chemistry. But if we examine the findings reported in the international research literature on students’ interests in science, we cannot yet claim that the golden age of science education has arrived.
Despite the intrinsic interest of scientific themes and their relevance for modern living, pupils’ attitudes are often poor and may indeed be deteriorating. In relation to the great advances in science and technology, there is another reason to emphasise attitudes. Enormous social and moral problems appear with scientific advances. There are many issues and people need help in judging and deciding about such scientific matters as genetic manipulation, environmental pollution and nuclear waste disposal. Therefore, a student’s attitudes towards science may well be more important than his understanding of science, since his attitudes determine how he will use his knowledge (Johnstone and Reid 1981). Apart from the obvious aim of transmitting scientific knowledge and understandings, it is possible to argue that science education at school levels seeks to offer: (1) An introduction to the empirical nature of enquiry as a valid method to obtain answers to questions about the physical and biological world. (2) The development of a willingness to use this empirical method where appropriate. (3) The preparation of the pupils and students to be informed citizens, able to make informed and rational judgments on matters relation to scientific developments. In other words, students should be given opportunities to develop attitudes in relation to their studies in the sciences. This is the strong emphasis of the second and
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third aims, in particular. The question is: does working memory capacity influence such attitudes, directly or indirectly? There are numerous descriptions of attitudes (see Allport 1935; Katz and Sarnoff 1954; Rhine 1958; Oppenheim 1992) but a useful practical one is that offered by Chaiken and Eagly (1993, 1): ‘A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a certain entity with some degree of favour or disfavour’. In the area of science education, there are perhaps three main areas where attitude development is important (Reid 2003): ●
●
●
Attitudes towards the subject being studied. A major concern among educators is how to encourage positive attitudes because, without interest in the subject being studied, it is very hard for the learner to be motivated to learn. Considerable research has been performed to look at attitudes towards subjects like physics (see Reid and Skryabina 2002a, b). Attitudes towards study itself. There are skills for effective learning and it is necessary to look at attitudes towards learning these skills and using them. Students need to develop critical understanding about the nature of knowledge and how it is gained, about approaches to successful study, about the nature of learning as a lifelong process and so forth. Pioneering work was carried out by Perry (1999) with university students and this has defined a language and an agenda. Attitudes towards themes/topics/issues arising in the study of a science subject. Through the experience of learning science, students develop attitudes towards themes and topics which they study. As students learn more about chemical industry, they will develop attitudes towards aspects of the work of chemical industry. If students come to understand genetics, their attitudes towards aspects of genetic engineering may well develop. Studying topics which involve contemporary issues in science like pollution and nuclear industry will provide students with opportunity to develop attitudes towards these and related themes.
However, it is important to note that an attitude is a latent construct that can be inferred by considering the observed stimuli and the observed evaluative responses. Therefore, a person’s attitude cannot be measured directly. It is possible, however, to observe and measure behaviour and thereby deduce relative attitudes of various groups. Indeed, attitudes cannot be measured in any absolute sense (Reid 2003). Although many techniques have been developed for measuring attitudes, questionnaires and interviews are the main useful ways for educational research. The approach developed by Osgood et al. (1957), known as the semantic differential, and the much older approach of Likert (1932) are widely used and were employed here. A well-constructed questionnaire can provide insights into how students think and the way they evaluate situations and experience. It might be thought that questionnaires Figure 1. Attitude as a latent construct (after Eagly and Chaiken 1993).
Observable Stimuli that denote attitude object
Figure 1.
Inferred
Attitude
Attitude as a latent construct (after Eagly and Chaiken 1993).
Observable Evaluative responses
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are highly unreliable and of limited value. However, ‘the evidence shows that well constructed questionnaires can provide extremely accurate insights’ (Reid 2003, 35). Although interviews can be very powerful tools to gain insights into student attitudes, time prevented this approach being used in this study.
Some previous findings Much research has shown that boys are more positive towards science than girls (Bradley and Hutching 1973; Keeves 1973; Hilton and Berglund 1974; Weinberg 1995). Furthermore, the nature of boys’ and girls’ interests in science is inclined to differ. Physics topics are much more popular with boys than girls. Biology and social science topics are more popular with girls than boys (Comber and Keeves 1973; Clarke 1972; McGuffin 1973; Craig and Ayres 1988). On the other hand, Reid and Skryabina (2002b) found there are almost no differences in the interests of boys and girls in physics topics related to explanations of natural phenomena and understanding how physics can serve humankind. In general, boys are interested in physics topics related to technical objects and the way they function and physics as a way of understanding the world. Girls’ interests lie more in the context of the impact of physics on society. Evidence suggests that there are parallel features in biology (Chu 2008) and chemistry (Hussein 2006) Piburn and Baker (1993) attempted to find causes for the general tendency that interest towards science decreases with age. They argued that, as the student moves up through the school, the opportunities for student–student and student–teacher interaction, both academic and social, tend to decline and, therefore, negative attitudes increase. Overall, learners need security in their learning and they need to relate their studies to their experience. Perhaps, science syllabuses have frequently not taken these factors into account. Germann (1988), Reid and Skryabina (2002a) and many other researchers found that teachers and their instructional methods play a very important role in forming students’ attitudes toward science. In relation to this, Perrott (1982) reviewed several research projects (Ryan 1960; Flanders 1970; Rosenshine and Furst 1973) and summarised the characteristics of teachers who are able to foster gains in achievement and stimulate positive attitude to learning. According to her summary: (a) Teacher’s cognitive organisation which is clear, business-like and taskoriented is important. (b) Transmissive teaching had strong negative affects upon student’s interest in science. (c) Effective classroom teaching means using a variety of instructional material and procedures. (d) Students benefit from active student involvement and experimentation and the use of visual aids by the teacher. (e) Teacher-dominated techniques (excessive teacher talk, copying of notes, rotelearning of textbook material) tend to inhibit interest. Looking at this list, it would appear that such teacher characteristics are those which describe the effective teacher in any subject area and they do not offer a clear way forward which is specific to the sciences.
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As children grow up, not only content but also the way scientific knowledge is to be used become significant for many students (Gardner 1983). In particular, teenagers begin to be concerned about social issues. Several countries report on the benefits of teaching science in ways which permit the social and environmental consequences of science and technology to be considered (Gardner 1983; Mbajiorgu and Ali 2002). Finally, the most significant factor which makes students give up studying science is its perceived difficulty (Cheng, Payne and Witherspoon 1995). Many students state that they do not want to continue with science because it is too mathematical, too abstract and too difficult. Consequently, the sciences, especially the physical sciences, are only taken by students who do well and this reinforces the notion that science is difficult and is, therefore, only for the most able. It is the desire of all science educators to make their students interested in science subjects. However, more than interest is needed. What is really wanted is that students plan their future on the basis of true comprehension about scientific knowledge, scientific process and the role of science in a scientific and technological society. In order to do this, it is necessary for students to be concerned about the nature of science whether they become a specialist in science or not. This is the real meaning of ‘attitude development in science’. This explains why Johnstone and Reid (1981) stress attitude ‘development’ rather than attitude ‘change’, a term which social psychologists often use. The learning situation should allow pupils to develop attitudes on a sound cognitive basis. Nevertheless, although the models from research of social psychology tend to use the word ‘change’ (with its possible overtones of manipulation), these models are very helpful for understanding attitude development in science. One of the powerful influences which enable attitudes to grow and develop is contact with other people. For very young children, the role of parents may be critical while, with primary aged children, the teacher has a powerful influence. At secondary stages, the teacher still has a powerful influence although the influence of parents tends to fall (Reid and Skryabina 2002a) although this may not be true in all cultures (Alhmali 2007). Within education, it is possible to see attitude development in terms of: (a) The communicator (teacher). (b) The communication (the teaching). (c) The response (the way the brain operates). This is illustrated in Figure 2. Each of the questions in Figure 2 has been addressed in some detail over many decades of research but only a few findings will be discussed
The teacher
What are the characteristics of the teacher ?
Figure 2.
The method of communication
What approaches are used in the teaching process ?
Attitude development in education.
The learner
What is actually happening in the brain ?
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here: those of great relevance to attitude development related to the sciences and, specifically, to the role of working memory in attitude development. Looking at the communicator, much of the early work was pioneered in Yale University many decades ago by Hovland and his team (Hovland et al. 1953). Later, Reich and Adcock (1976) stressed the important point that any communicator has to have high credibility in the eyes of the students. Himmelfarb and Eagly (1974) found that the material which has high credibility but is unimportant also can change people’s attitude. The communication must be understood. However, even if the communication is understood, there is no certainty that the person will change their attitude (Reich and Adcock 1976). It seems that the communicator must take things step-by-step. McGuire (1968) considers the comprehension component is positively related to ability and it is also important to have an opportunity for thinking because students need to make sense about how to relate the teacher’s information to their lives. In terms of the limited capacity of working memory, if teaching cannot be comprehended because too much information has to be handled at one time, not only will understanding not take place but attitude development is also unlikely. The need for time to think is important. The working memory has to have the time to take in new information, drawing former information and experiences from long-term memory, re-think ideas as the new and old interact. The working memory then has to clear itself for further thought. If examination pressures force the student to learn the material, then rote learning is likely. In rote learning, new material is stored unconnected to previous knowledge. Therefore, it does not interact with previous knowledge and attitude development will not occur. Although teachers often would like to think they are giving their students information beneficial for life, students sometimes do not always connect the information and their personal lives. This relates to the whole question of perceived relevance. First of all, the teaching should be related to students’ existing feelings and beliefs. It must be perceived as relevant. The learner must be sufficiently motivated to pay attention. Secondly, the learner needs to be actively involved with the incoming information. All kinds of group work activities and, especially, role play have been found to be very effective. However, the activities or role play must not involve any kind of coercion. Indeed, it appears that there needs to be a significant amount of freedom so that the person can develop the role in their own way. When students role play, they should have personal responsibility for their role (Janis and King 1954; Katz and Sarnoff 1954; King and Janis 1956). Overall, the communication is best seen in terms of active involvement. This has considerable implications for school education where most learning tends to be passive and students receive information and understanding from teachers or written resources without active interaction (Chaiken and Eagly 1993). While it is important to observe the nature of the communicator and the method of communication in enabling attitude development to take place, it is more difficult to find out what are the internal mechanisms in the brain which are important. However, over the years, considerable work has built up which offers some very important insights. Much of this centres on the human need to be reasonably consistent in thinking. Early work focussed on this need for consistency and found that, where inconsistency was generated, attitude development was much more likely (Heider 1944). A simple example illustrates the principles developed by Heider. Suppose a teacher is fairly negative in his views of a school subject. At the same time, the Figure 2c. 2a. Reasons 2b. Attitude Figural intersection development for studyingtest. science in education. related to working memory capacity (Level 1).
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students like and respect the teacher. This can generate an inconsistency. One way to reduce the inconsistency is to steadily become more positive about the subject (attitude development). Another way is to separate the view of the teacher from the view of the subject (compartmentalisation). Both are frequently observed. However, Heider’s model is also important because it led to the development of major refinements including the important work of Festinger (1957). In an amazing experiment, he offered various rewards to students to do what they did not want to do: they had to report to another student that an excessively boring task was, in fact, interesting. Festinger (1957) found that, when rewards were offered for doing what they did not want to do, the smaller the reward, the greater the opinion change in a forcing situation. This was initially a surprising result but his work is highly reproducible (Chaiken and Eagly 1993, 505–34). He developed an understanding of what was happening by using the idea of dissonance. He defined carefully what he meant by dissonance and by consonance. He was thinking of behaviour and attitude which were not consistent in some way and he described this situation in terms of dissonance. Where behaviour and attitude were consistent, he saw this as consonance. Thus, in his experiment, the requirement to tell the next student that the task was interesting (behaviour) was in contradiction with the student attitude (based on previous experience) that the task was boring. What he appreciated was that the money reward added consonance to the task of telling the next student that the task was interesting. He saw that any attitude change which arose depended on what he called total dissonance which took into account the actual dissonance and the actual consonance. He defined this in a simple mathematical relationship. However, the key thing to note is that, if the amount of consonance increases, then the total dissonance decreases. He then went on to hypothesise that any possible attitude change would be related to the total dissonance. The idea is very common in life. When faced with information which is inconsistent with what we understand, then dissonance is set up. One way to reduce the dissonance is to try to recall all the things consistent with the ongoing understanding. This increases the consonance and ‘dilutes’ the dissonance. Another way to reduce the mental discomfort of dissonance is to change the belief, an example of attitude development. This explains why role play has been found to be so powerful in attitude development (Percival and Reid 1978; Reid 1980). However, it also offers a key for the teacher. For attitude development, it is critical for new information, feeling or experience mentally to come very close to previous held knowledge, feeling and experience. This may create the dissonance necessary for attitude development. Most school and university learning is passive: the student receives from the teacher but rarely interacts actively with the new material. Thus, dissonance is unlikely and attitude development will be limited. This is important in day-to-day science teaching but it is also a key message for those involved in the educational aspects of teaching teenagers about issues like drugs, drink, sex and so on. The possibility of attitude change or development is controlled by the total dissonance and this involves taking into account what is consonant as well as what is dissonant. Dissonance seems to be a natural process throughout life. The Festinger understanding makes sense of the observation that, when placed in dissonant situations, people tend to seek for consonant cognition, affects or experiences in order to reduce the total dissonance and thus avoid attitude change. This preserves attitude stability and avoids disturbance.
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Dissonance occurs in the working memory as former knowledge, feeling or experience is drawn from long-term memory to interact with new knowledge, feeling or experience. The role of the working memory is critical for it is here that all thinking, understanding and problem solving take place. If the working memory is overloaded, then dissonance is impossible. If learning is reduced to rote learning or is the passive reception of information, then dissonance is highly unlikely. The key place of this mental interaction of dissonant information, feeling or experience is, thus critical, and this was the basis of the development of the interactive teaching unit (Johnstone and Reid 1981), now widely used in science education. In the process of learning, information is processed cognitively by the learner and the information processing model of Johnstone (1993) offers valuable insights into the processes involved. However, as information is processed, held attitudes may affect information selection and the way it is handled. Equally, new information, as it is integrated into the long-term memory may bring about attitude development. These two aspects occur simultaneously in real educational situations and interact with each other continuously. The next section will consider the interaction of these two factors. The interaction of the cognitive and attitudinal in science education Attitudes influence the learning process continuously. Students’ attitudes may control whether they display their ability completely or almost not at all in learning activities. In addition, attitudes can be affected by learning experiences although attitudes are resistant to change. Attitudes may influence what the learner allows to enter their working memory (Reid 2008). Without an interest in the subject being studied, it is hard for the learner to be motivated to learn. In particular, if a student has a negative attitude toward learning itself or the topic being presented, he/she may not attend to the learning material actively and, therefore, new learning can be disturbed from the beginning. If the learner has low confidence about the subject being learned, the learner may not be able to function to his/her capacity fully. Furthermore, he/she may tend to hesitate to take cognitive risks which are important to active thinking and investigation. Laukenmann et al. (2003) have demonstrated the influence of emotional factors on learning in physics instruction and it was found that subject-specific self-concept shows a very high correlation with final test performance and interest is more important in the situation with no performance pressure than in learning under performance pressure. On the other hand, favourable attitudes make learners attend to new information positively. Those learners who have favourable attitudes towards the subject being studied are willing to spend their time in studying that subject and make every effort to comprehend the message. Gardner (1983) suggests that there are four key questions which need to be answered in order to yield information on interest in science. To what extent are students interested in using science to meet personal needs? To what extent do they want to learn about [scientific] issues which affect society at large? How strongly are they motivated by the possibility of pursuing academic work in science? How willing are they to consider the possibility of a scientific or technological career? It is clear from the above discussion that cognitive content is an essential component to raise students’ interest in science. If students have no previous knowledge and skill about scientific aspects of their everyday life, scientific issues of society, and industrial and economical application of scientific outcomes, how can their interest in
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science grow? This is the reason why many students state that they do not want to continue with science because it is perceived as too mathematical, too abstract and too difficult. In addition, topics like pollution, world poverty, industry and society, nuclear developments, research, smoking, etc. have a dominant cognitive base. In order to develop attitude about these topics, much factual evidence has to be provided. An attitude formed without taking the cognitive base into account might be described as a prejudice. It is also important to know whether students can comprehend well the nature of science and the role of science in society or not. If students know more about science and how it is used, their attitude may improve although this cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, cognitive comprehension is an indispensable factor of attitude development. Repeated failure in learning may produce: ● ●
● ● ●
Poor information in long-term memory about the theme under consideration. Poor chunking (see Miller 1956) which leads to working memory overload and consequently miscomprehension or no comprehension about attitude object. Negative attitude storage in long-term memory which may hinder further learning. Low confidence and unwillingness to learn further. Rote learning with little understanding, as a way of learning, leading to low levels of satisfaction.
In conclusion, unsuccessful learning experiences can cause students to lose learning intention. This may bring about negative influences on attitudes or loss of ability to study because there is little or no prior knowledge in long-term memory. Such knowledge is important in making sense of new learning. Inevitably, this produces another cycle of unsuccessful learning the next time. The result of this vicious cycle may be one of the reasons for general public antipathy against science about which many science educators and others in the science community are anxious. The real question is to know what factors underpin this. Working memory capacity is well established as a limiting factor on learning when seen as understanding (Reid 2008). Specifically, is working memory capacity a limiting factor influencing, directly or indirectly, the development of attitudes? It might be hypothesised that those with low working memory capacities tend to demonstrate lower understanding and, in order to pass examinations, a tendency to resort to rote learning. It might then be hypothesised that high dependence on rote learning leads to little intellectual satisfaction, thus encouraging the development of less positive attitudes towards the science subject and aspects of the learning experience. Experimental The research was conducted with Level 1 (364 students, age 12) and Level 3 (350 students, age 14), from South Korea (Table 1). Table 1.
The sample of students.
Level 1 (age 12) Level 3 (age 14)
Boys
Girls
Total
191 173
173 177
364 350
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Two research questions were explored: (a) Are there significant relationships between students’ beliefs and attitudes and their working memory capacity? (b) Is there any relationship between students’ ideas about various aspects of learning science and working memory capacity? The figural intersection test designed by Pascual-Leone (1970) was used to measure a student’s working memory space. To determine the quantity of information which can be held and processed in a student’s working memory at one time, the figural intersection test gives the pupil two sets of simple geometric shapes (see Figure 3). The presentation set (on the right) contains several simple shapes separated from each other. The test set (on the left) contains the same shapes but overlapping, so that there exists a common area which is inside all of the shapes. The student has to look for and shade in the common area of overlap. In some items, there is an extra shape in the presentation set which is not present in the test set and does not form a common area of intersection with all of the other shapes. The adult test has 36 items but, with this younger age group, 25 were used. The number of shapes in any one item varies from two to nine. If a student identified the common area correctly up to five overlapping shapes, his or her working memory space is scored five. A student identifying correctly up to six is given a score of six. In any other case, the scoring system is the same. Every item has to be completed in about 15 seconds. To probe students’ attitudes towards science, two sets of questionnaires for Level 1 and Level 3 were designed but in both sets, all questions except one (the final question) were the same. Only some of the questions are discussed here. The semantic differential method (Osgood et al. 1957) and the Likert method (Likert 1932) were both employed for the questions aimed at obtaining information of
Test set
Figure 3.
Figural intersection test.
Presentation set
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an evaluative character. A six-point semantic differential scale was used to investigate students’ views about studies in science and the scientist. Several sets of two bipolar meanings in each are presented for pupils to rank their evaluation. For example, the statements like ‘I enjoy my studies’/‘I do not enjoy my studies’, ‘I find science difficult’/‘I find science easy’, are presented about studies in science. For the questions about pupils’ self-perception and their views about helpfulness of various aspects of learning science, the Likert method was used with four (all the time, quite a lot, a little, not at all) and five (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) scales. The questionnaire also included questions aimed to gain general information about various aspects of learning: the reasons for studying science, factors causing them to lose interest in science and the way of learning and so on. For these questions, other types of question were employed: (a) Yes or no questions. (b) Multiple tick questions, where students could choose as many options as they wish. (c) Preference ranking questions, where students choose three things they feel most appropriate. Finally, correlation coefficients were calculated to see if students’ working memory capacity is linked with attitudes. Data from items in attitudes questionnaires are often far from normally distributed and expressed in ranks or grades along a continuum, often with four, five or six points on the continuum. Therefore, each question is handled on its own (Reid 2006) and Kendall’s tau-b correlation was used as it handles ordinal and categorical data well. Pearson correlation is inappropriate in that the attitude data is not interval data with any approximation to normality while the Spearman’s rho does not handle ties (many in the same category) very well. Kendall’s tau-b does not assume normality and handles ties well. Results obtained Students aged 12 and 14 are expected to show a mean working memory capacity of about five and six respectively (Miller 1956) and the mean value obtained from the figural intersection test was 5.6 for the entire group, consistent with expectations. The Kendall’s Tau-b correlations for several of the questions used are now discussed. Values above 0.10 are shown in bold, these being significant at p < 0.05 or better. Working memory capacity, in general, is not highly correlated with attitudes although, with the large samples here, high significance is observed (Table 2). However, students who have high working memory capacity tend to enjoy science studies and think science is easy and interesting. Furthermore, working memory capacity is likely to be more correlated with affective elements of attitude (e.g., ‘I enjoy my studies’, ‘Science is interesting’) than more cognitive aspects (e.g., ‘Science topics are relevant to me’ or ‘My textbooks are helpful’). Their images of a scientist did not correlate significantly with working memory capacity and are not shown here. It is possible that students build up perceptions of scientists independently of their experience of learning science and understanding of scientific knowledge. Much will depend on their perceptions of their science teacher.
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Table 2.
Studies in science and working memory capacity.
Working memory capacity and attitudes towards studies in science
Kendall’s Tau-b correlation I enjoy my studies I find science easy Science is useful Science is interesting Science topics are relevant to me There is not enough work Laboratory work is good fun I learn a lot from laboratory work My textbooks are helpful
Level 1
Level 3
N = 364
N = 350
0.14 0.14 0.11 0.13 0.07 0.04 0.05 0.03 0.02
0.14 0.10 0.03 0.12 0.07 0.08 0.07 0.05 0.05
When compared to their peers with low working memory capacity, Table 3 shows that students who have high working memory capacity tend to feel that: ● ● ● ●
●
They are coping with their science work very well. Science is an important subject for their life. They are getting better at science. Their understanding about the natural world is progressing by virtue of studying science. They are enjoying studying science.
This tendency is slightly stronger for the Level 1 students. These results are consistent with the suggestion that understanding science (which is working memory dependent) is more satisfying. In looking at the correlations of working memory capacity with a various aspects of the learning process in science, few significant correlations were obtained. However, at both Levels 1 and 3, scientific concepts are likely to be an obstacle to understanding science for students with low working memory capacity (r = 0.14, p < 0.01 and r = 0.11, p < 0.05). Again understanding is linked to working memory capacity. Table 3.
Self-perception in science and working memory capacity.
Kendall’s Tau-b correlation I am coping with my science work very well Science is an important subject for my life I am getting better at science My understanding about the natural world is progressing by virtue of studying science I think current school science is enough to meet my curiosity about the natural world I am enjoying studying science
Level 1
Level 3
N = 364
N = 350
0.14 0.18 0.13 0.11
0.08 0.13 0.10 0.11
0.09
0.08
0.18
0.15
Research in Science & Technological Education Table 4.
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Interest in science and working memory capacity. Level 1
Are you interested in science? Yes No
Level 3
High (N=100)
Mid (N=166)
Low (N=98)
High (N=95)
Mid (N=172)
Low (N=83)
66% 33%
55% 42%
39% 57%
48% 53%
36% 64%
22% 78%
Students were asked if they were interested in science and then asked for possible reasons for any loss of interest in science. It is possible to divide each year group into three groups: those with above average working memory capacities, those with average and those with below average. This was carried out using the approach described by Danili and Reid (2004): those who were more than one half of a standard deviation above the mean were described as ‘high’, those who were more than one half of a standard deviation below the mean were described as ‘low’, and those whose score lay between these two groups were described as ‘mid’. The percentages responding ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question about interest in science gave the following pattern (Table 4). It appears that those with low working memories tend to be negative in their interest in science and this is confirmed when a contingency chi-square test is applied: Level 1 Level 3
χ2 = 13.7 ( df2) χ2 = 13.3 ( df2)
p < 0.001 p < 0.001
This indicates that those who show low interest in science tend to be those with low working memories. This makes sense. Those with low working memories will tend to find it more difficult to understand. Understanding is the natural process of learning and inability to understand will bring possible frustration and dissatisfaction. This can be seen vividly in the next question (Table 5). This question asked about their preferred way of working, offering two perspectives. A few refused to fit themselves into such a polarised question – hence data do not always add to exactly 100% on each line. A contingency chi-square test was again applied. Level 1 Level 3 Table 5.
χ2 = 10.3 ( df2) χ2 = 20.1 ( df2)
p < 0.001 p < 0.001
Understanding or memorising and working memory capacity.
I have tried to understand science I have tried to memorise science Working knowledge such as concepts, knowledge such as concepts, memory Level capacity Sample rules, theory as much as I can (%) rules, theory as much as I can (%) 1
3
High Mid Low High Mid Low
100 166 98 85 172 78
71 58 50 70 61 37
24 34 39 25 31 45
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While a slight overall majority for both years indicated that they were trying to understand rather than memorise, those with lower than average working memory said they tended to rely more on rote learning. It is possible that, because of their working memory limitations, understanding was proving impossible in some areas of study. According to the information processing model, the student’s working memory is easily overloaded in a learning situation unless (s)he has appropriate chunking skills (Johnstone 1997). This overload of working memory happens to low working memory capacity students more often and they have more difficulty in studying science than high working memory capacity students. What might be the result of working memory overload? One clue can be obtained from Johnstone and Wham’s research (1982) about the effects of working memory overload in practical work. Their research focussed on university laboratory work and they found that the working memory of students can be easily overloaded because too many things are required simultaneously to be manipulated cognitively. In the situation of unstable overload, they observed that students often tended to: ● ● ● ● ●
Adopt recipe following. Concentrate on one part excluding the rest. Show busy random activity. Copy the actions of others. Adopt the role of ‘recorder’.
In other words, in general, when students are faced with working memory overload, they may simply give up trying to understand because the potential working memory overload is an unstable and unsatisfactory experience. A similar pattern might occur in science learning: they have to complete the class and they may well adopt memorisation as the only way of learning simply to obtain a good examination mark. Consequently, their interest in science may fall off. The outcomes from Tables 4 and 5 are consistent with this explanation. Another question asked the students for reasons why they studied science. The question offered eight possibilities with space for others to be added. Their responses for the eight were related to their working memory capacity (Figures 4 and 5). There are numerous differences between the two age groups and these reflect the fact that the Level 3 group are close to moving on to high school and taking curriculum decisions. There is also the characteristic drop in positive attitudes with age, reflecting a fairly demanding and possibly unsatisfactory science curriculum and learning experience. A common feature is the fact that those with above average working memory capacities are more interested in science-based jobs and they also tend to see science as more useful in daily life. Enjoyment of science is much higher from those with high working memories in Level 1 but the levels of enjoyment have dropped back markedly by Level 3. The expressed need to study science for university shows a totally different pattern between the age groups. Level 1 students have unrealistic aspirations and those with the lowest working memory capacities are more acutely aware of the place of science for university entrance. By Level 3, those with lower working memories perhaps appreciate they are not coping well with science and university entry based on this is less of an option. Clearly, working memory capacity has some quite subtle effects on aspirations. Figure 3. Reasons for studying science related to working memory capacity (Level 3).
Research in Science & Technological Education 60% High working memory capacity
Mid working memory capacity
50%
Low working memory capacity
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% I really
Science is
I like my
I want to
enjoy
easy to get
science
get a job
studying
good grades
teacher
relevant to science
science
Figure 4.
I need to
My
Science is
parents
useful in
science in
persuade
my daily
order to go
me to study
life
to university
science
study
Reasons for studying science related to working memory capacity (Level 1).
70% High working memory capacity
60%
Mid working memory capacity Low working memory capacity
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% I really enjoy studying science
Figure 5.
Science is easy to get good grades
I like my science teacher
I want to get a job relevant to science
I need to study science in order to go to university
My parents persuade me to study science
Science is useful in my daily life
Reasons for studying science related to working memory capacity (Level 3).
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According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1985), a person’s behaviour can be influenced by the person’s intention to perform that behaviour. A person’s intention to behave can be predicted in terms of: ●
●
●
Attitudinal factors: the person’s positive or negative feelings about engaging in the behaviour. Subjective norm factors: the person’s perception of the social pressures and norms to perform or not to perform. Perceived behavioural control factors: the person’s belief as to how easy or difficult performance of the behaviour is likely to be.
Applying this model in interpreting Figure 4, attitudinal factors (‘I really enjoy studying science’, ‘science is useful in my life’) might influence high working memory capacity students’ motive to study science more than low working memory capacity students’ motive while perceived behavioural factors (‘science is easy to gain good grades’) and subjective norm factors (‘I need to study science to go to university’) might influence low working memory capacity students’ motive more than high working memory capacity students’ motive. On the other hand, as it can be seen in Figure 5, a different pattern appeared at the Level 3 stage. The fact that they are in the final stage at middle school and going on to high school might make students think about their future more than before. In this situation, high working memory capacity students might be more influenced by subjective norm factors such as ‘I need to study science to go to university’ and ‘I want to get a job related to science’ than low working memory capacity students because they consider scientist as a future job more than low working memory space students. Summary This was an exploratory study to see if measured working memory capacity related in any way to the attitudes of students as they developed over critical years (ages 12 to 14). The general patterns can be summarised: (1) In general, working memory space is correlated more significantly with students’ attitudes towards studies in science than attitudes towards scientists. (2) When compared to students with high working memory capacity, students who have low working memory capacity tend to feel that: ● They cannot cope with science work. ● Science is not very important for their life. ● They are not getting better at science. ● Their understanding about the natural world is not progressing through studying science. ● They are not enjoying studying science. (3) Students who have high working memory capacity tend to try to understand science knowledge such as concepts, rules, theory as much as they can while students who have low working memory capacity tend more to try to memorize science knowledge. The finding that those who show low interest in science tend to be those with low working memories and the finding that those with lower working memory capacities
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are tending to enjoy science less offers a possible rationale. It is the natural instinct of all learners to try to understand (see Piaget and Inhelder 1969), to make sense of what is seen, heard and touched. Those with lower working memories face problems in many topics in the sciences in that they find it difficult to cope with high concept areas which, almost by their very nature, demand that the new learner has to hold many ideas simultaneously in working memory to achieve any kind of understanding. Faced with an inability to understand but having to pass examinations they resort to rote learning. Rote learning is not the natural way of learning. The whole learning experience lacks instrinsic satisfaction and attitudes towards the science being studied start to decline. This is another argument for the re-thinking of topics and the time they are introduced. An analysis of difficulties in physics (Zapiti 1999) summarised the literature and noted that many of the most difficult and inaccessible topics were being introduced very early, even at primary stages. Such topics included ideas in electricity, forces, and energy. All of these topics are highly conceptual and are well known as areas of intense difficulty. All make great demands on working memory. For young children at primary stages, the way to make progress is to memorise (or generate all kinds of oversimplified misconceptions) and positive attitudes start to fall, especially when they find this will not enable them to make progress at the early stages of secondary education. A similar pattern in genetics was found in Taiwan where the key ideas are laid down at a very early stage of secondary education. The overload of working memory was very strongly demonstrated while a re-writing of the materials taking working memory overload into account saw a very significant improvement in both performance and attitude (Chu 2008). Overall, working memory capacity only correlates to a small extent with certain areas of attitudes related to students in the sciences. However, this exploratory study reveals that there may be very important issues to be addressed. If science curricula persist in generating information overload, then attitudes will deteriorate as many resort to rote learning and lose the satisfaction of making sense of the exciting world around them.
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