Education research: static science attitudes in astronomy

In a recent article (2007) in the Astronomy Education Review, C. A. Garland and D. L. Ratay use current science articles as a primary resource in an introductory astronomy course (with a conventional textbook as an auxiliary resource) at Castleton State College in Castleton, VT. While there are some modest gains in learning and self-confidence, as measured by the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (Hufnagel, 2002); more interesting is their results from the Survey of Attitudes Towards Astronomy (Zeilik and Morris, 2003) which found that:

...Students' opinion of their own ability to do science was unchanged... Our demographic questions revealed that 40% of the class had previously taken one college-level science class or none at all. A mere 56 class meetings [in one semester] with these students is not enough to change their perception of how well they do science--there simply is not enough time...
--Garland and Ratay (2007)

Garland and Ratay observe that that this is consistent with the original SATA study by Zeilik and Morris (2003). However, it should be noted that this contrasts somewhat with recent findings at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, CA (Len, 2006), where electronic response systems ("clickers") were extensively used to generate collaborative interaction in class. When clickers were used with participation-only credit (regardless of whether responses were correct or not), students reported themselves as either self-testers (responding without talking to, or listening to other students); or as collaborators (responding after talking to, or listening to other students). The Cuesta College study also used the ADT and SATA to measure student self-confidence and attitude gains, and found that:

Self-testers reported a higher pretest proficiency in science and maintained positive attitudes toward science, in contrast to collaborators, who reported a lower pretest proficiency in science and subsequently experienced a negative shift in their attitudes toward science. The implication is that this one-semester astronomy course had a great impact on the formation of nascent science and learning attitudes of students with little or no background in science [emphasis added]... It is plausible that self-testers (with more exposure to learning science than collaborators) would have well-formed positive attitudes toward astronomy. In contrast, students with less exposure to science would be less comfortable answering on their own and would collaborate more before answering.
--Len (2006)

Garland and Ratay suggest that students' attitudes be surveyed as they take science courses in subsequent semesters, which is similar to the current effort (2006 onwards) at Cuesta College where students are specifically asked for the extent of their past science courses, and projected future science courses, in order to determine whether students' science attitudes do shift significantly (higher?) over time.

Garland, C. A., & Ratay, D. L. 2007 "Using Literacy Techniques to Teach Astronomy to Non-Science Majors," Astronomy Education Review, 6(1).

Hufnagel, B. 2002, "Development of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test," Astronomy Education Review, 1(1), 47.

Len, P. M. 2006, "Different Reward Structures to Motivate Student Interaction with Electronic Response Systems in Astronomy," Astronomy Education Review, 5(2).

Zeilik, M. & Morris, V. J. 2003, "An Examination of Misconceptions in an Astronomy Course for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Majors," Astronomy Education Review, 2(1), 101.