THE 8TH AND 9TH GRADES STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE

The students’ interest and attitude towards Physics have been the object of internationaltesting, the most recent of which is the PISA testing from 2006. The students’ attitude towards sciences isconsidered to be a significant predictor of their school results in science, respectively of pursuing a careerin areas related to Science. The present paper had in view to discover the existence of convergences ordivergences among the attitudes of the students in 8th and 9th grade towards the study of natural sciencesand towards the teacher’s role in studying for the natural sciences. The obtained results have not renderedevidently the existence of major differences but have allowed for the shaping of a profile for Physics as aschool subject, from the interviewees’ perspective. Thus, Physics is considered to be a difficult butpleasant and interesting subject, with use for oneself but for others as well. Our investigation has pointedout the fact that the students study too little for Physics at home, but that the Physics teacher is effectivein teaching and motivating the students to learn. Although this is a pilot research project, ourinvestigation signals a state of fact that implies reflection, mainly on the Physics curriculum but also onthe teaching methods.