Student attitudes towards astronomy: A bi-country questionnaire results

Abstract

This article presents the results of comparison of attitudes towards position of astronomy in education of students from two countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. A convenience sample of 396 third and fourth year high school students was surveyed using an anonymous self-report questionnaire. Students showed a certain indifference to pursuing a career in astronomy. However, both correlation and regressionanalysis indicated that students manifested a high degree of interest in acquiring knowledge, experience and skills in astronomy. This bicountry study shows that students’ attitudes towards astronomy are similar considering the educational systems and position of astronomy in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The research results suggest that more students might consider astronomy for their scientific andprofessional career provided they had more opportunities for formal education in astronomy.