Attitudes towards Physics: Developing an instrument to measure the Physics learning improvement in Italian high school

To assess students’ attitudes towards Physics, teachers and researchers need an instrument focusing on the learning difficulties arising from different causes. As is well known in the literature, these difficulties depend on a number of factors deeply involved in the learning process and related with the teaching strategy and methodologies. Considering these main factors as referred to three-dimensional model, we have developed an attitude scale according to the cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The reliability test on a sample of about 500 students in a scientific high school of Trieste (Italy) retained an excellent Cronbach-Alpha coefficient. A brief description of the statistical analysis is reported focusing on the main results from the collected data. The use of this tool is proposed for a more extensive investigation in order to quantitatively highlight which attitudes emerge and encourage the promotion of curricular and orientation activities better calibrated to develop a positive attitude towards Physics.