A Multidimensional Statistical Analysis of Students' Attitudes toward Physics: The Case of 11th Grade Students of First-generation Immigrants in Greece.

Students' attitudes toward science have a strong impact on their achievement in science. Therefore, identification and influence of attitudes has become an essential part of educational research. This study analyses students' attitudes toward physics. One hundred and sixty seven 11th grade students' of first-generation immigrants in Greece took part in the research. A validated questionnaire measuring attitudes toward physics was administered to 91 male and 76 female students from four different regions in Western Macedonia, Greece, in the academic year 2008-09. In addition the study explores students' gender in relation to the attitudes toward the subject. The methods used for the analysis of data were the implicative statistical analysis and the principal components analysis. One of the findings of the study is that students' attitude toward physics is strongly affected by teacher identity (personality). This can be taken as a hint for future research. Implications concerning teacher diversity education are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]