Abstract

Attitudes towards science can influence students' academic performance. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to assess attitudes towards science and the impact on them of metacognitive strategies, self-efficacy, learning processes, trust in science, understanding of the nature of science, and gender. Quantitative ex post facto research was carried out with 147 Argentine first-year veterinary students. Four previously designed and validated questionnaires were used to assess each of the study variables. The scores obtained and the correlation, multiple regression, and mediation analyses suggest that: a) attitudes towards science were mediocre, and neither gender nor knowledge about the nature of science had a significant effect on them; b) monitoring, evaluation and planning of learning, and trust in science were the variables that most influenced the variability of these attitudes; and c) constructivist connectivity, science learning self-efficacy, learning risks awareness, and control of concentration had significant indirect effects on attitudes towards science.