Family plays a significant role in the primary state of attitudes held
by individuals Initially, a person develops certain attitudes from his
parents, brothers, sisters and elders in the family. (lynn, 2012).
Societies play an important role in formatting the attitude of an
individual. The culture, the tradition, the language, e.t.c., influence a
person’s attitudes.
Society, tradition and the culture teach
individuals what is and what is not acceptable. (Minton, 2011). A
person’s attitude also depends on issues such as his salary, status
work, e.t.c. Political factors such as ideologies of political parties,
political leaders and political stability affect the attitudes of people
(Vogel, 2011).
The classic, tripartite view offered by Rosenberg
(201) is that an attitude contains cognitive, affective and behavioural
components. Empirical research, however, fails to support clear
distinctions between thoughts, emotions, and behavioural intentions
associated with a particular attitude (Chaiken, 2011).
A criticism of
the tripartite view of attitudes is that it requires cognitive,
affective, and behavioural associations of an attitude to be consistent,
but this may be implausible. (Khan, 2013). Thus some views of attitude
structure see the cognitive and behavioural components as derivative of
affect or affect and behavior as derivative of underlying beliefs.
(Olson, 2011). Despite debate about the particular structure of
attitudes, there is considerable evidence that attitudes reflect more
than evaluations of a particular object that vary from positive to
negative. (Katz, 2013). There is also considerable interest in
intra-attitudinal and inter-attitudinal structure, which is how an
attitude is made and how different attitudes related to one another.
(Brandth, 2011).
Another classic view of attitudes is that attitudes
serve particular functions for individuals. That is, researchers have
tried to understand why individuals hold particular attitudes or why
they hold attitudes in general by considering how attitudes affect the
individuals who hold them (Katz, 2013). The functional view of a
attitudes suggests that in order for attitude to change, appeals must be
made to the functions that a particular attitude serves for the
individual. By appealing to that individual’s image of themselves as
tolerant and open-minded, it may be possible to change their prejudicial
attitudes to be more consistent with their self concept. Similarly, a
persuasive message that threatens self image is much more likely to be
rejected (Brecker, 2015).
According to Doob (2011), learning can account for most of the attitudes we hold. The study of attitude formation is the study of how people form evaluations of persons, places or things. Theories of classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning and social learning are mainly responsible for formation of attitude (Wood, 2014). Unlike personality, attitude are expected to change as a function of experience. (Tesser, 2013).
Jung (2013) viewed attitude as the readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way. He maintained that attitude often comes in pair, one conscious and the other unconscious. According to him, attitudes may be conscious or unconscious rational or irrational, extroversion or introversion. He concluded that attitude connotes disposition to behave in a particular way in response to something they are exposed to from others. The response an individual gives to a particular situation or circumstance is behaviuor determinant and disposition of the respondent.
Concept of Fieldtrip
According to Mifflin (2012), fieldtrip is an excursion away from the normal education environment for firsthand experience of an historic site or place of special interest. It is a trip by students to gain firsthand knowledge away from the classroom as to a museum, factory, geological area or environment of certain plants and animals (Shiley, 2012). Fieldtrip is also defined as a trip by a scholar or researcher to gather data firsthand, as to a geological anthropological, or other site (Sunex, 2013).
Brown (2012) conceptualized fieldtrip as a visit to a place, such as a museum or Zoo, that is made by students to learn about something. It is a visit to a place that gives students the Chance to Study something in a real environment, rather than in a classroom or laboratory. (Portal, 2014).
Falk (2013) coined fieldtrip as a group excursion for the purpose of firsthand observation, as to a museum, the woods, or a historic place. Fieltrip is also defined as an excursion by staff an students to study at firsthand something of interest or relevance to a course. (Rosenberg, 2012). It is an occasion when students go somewhere to learn about a particular subject, especially one connected with nature or Science. (Wood, 2011).
According to Richard (2013) fieldtrip is an instructional expenditure or practical work in the field. Fieldtrip according to him, enhance the teaching and learning of biology in that students do not only learn in the classroom, but are also taken to the actual location of interest to observe and give account of what they observed. Olson (2011) in his opinion, regarded fieldtrip as the method of teaching which allows students to observe, reason, analyze and record their conclusion unlike the talk chalk method.
Carlson. (2012) defines fieldtrip as a course related activity that serves educational purposes and occur outside of the classroom at a location other than the school where the course is regularly taught Fieldtrip refers to trip or excursion to place of biological interest. Such trip may be short or long and may be within the school environment or they could be of considerable distance covering a number of days out of the classroom. Fieldtrips are recognized as important moments in learning. It is a shared social experience that provides the opportunity for students to encounter and explore novel things in an authentic setting.
Vogel (2012) defined fieldtrip as educational experiences that allow students to apply their classroom lessons to the real world. These trips tend to be the most memorable moments of a students career. (Tang, 2011). Fieldtrip is a part of the academic experience in most schools and colleges. Such trip make students understand about various subjects. (Robinson, 2011). For instance, schools may take students on educational trips to Zoos and parks to acquaint them with flora and fauna. It is one thing to see the picture of an animal or a plant in a book and still to see it in the real physical sense. Similarly, a visit to the planetarium is very useful to understand astronomy. History students may be taken to places of historic importance or museums where ancient artifacts are preserved. A visit to old forts and palaces or the ruins of ancient kingdoms can make history come alive before our eyes. It also gives us an idea of how people lived in olden days. Science students may be taken to places of scientific interest like research laboratories, Archaeology students are taken to sites of excavation which makes learning more real.
