Associations Between Student Outcomes and Psychosocial Science Environment

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Abstract
Past research on classroom environment was extended to science laboratory class settings in an investigation of associations between student outcomes and classroom environment. The sample consisted of 1,594 senior high school chemistry students in 92 classes. The Science Laboratory Environment Inventory was used to assess student cohesiveness, open-endedness, integration, rule clarity, and material environments in the laboratory class, and student outcomes encompassed two inquiry skill and four attitude measures. Simple, multiple, and canonical analyses were conducted separately for two units of analysis (student scores and class means) and separately with and without control for general ability. Past research was replicated in that the nature of the science laboratory classroom environment accounted for appreciable proportions of the variance in both cognitive and affective outcomes beyond that attributable to general ability.