Influence of academic engagement on attitudes towards science in secondary school students in the Canary Islands

The aim of this research is to evaluate the relationship between the academic engagement with the attitude towards science in obligatory secondary education students. Through an ex post facto study, 446 students were surveyed by means of international validated questionnaires, realizing a comparison by sex and year of study. The descriptive and contrasting analysis indicated a higher attitude and academic engagement in women. Spearman's Rho result, (between rs=.322; p<.001), permitted to conclude a statistically significative correlation, of a weak effect in size, but with a higher incidence than in other compared factors, such as repeating a year or difficulties in the learning process. As well, the dimensions in which the engagement is most influential are the adoption of scientific attitudes and the enjoyment of science classes.