The purpose of this review is to present a comprehensive evaluation of science attitude instruments based on published psychometric evidence. A multitude of instruments have been used through the years and some have been linked to career choice and school performance. Substantiating such associations is of paramount importance if researchers wish to influence educational policy. However, associations are reduced, or hard to discover, if instruments have weak psychometric properties. Several databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles that discussed the development and use of science attitude instruments. Instruments were grouped into the following categories: attitudes toward science, scientific attitudes, nature of science, scientific career interests, and other. A data abstraction and scoring rubric was used to summarize and evaluate 150 published articles that spanned 66 instruments. Most instruments had single study usage and showed an absence of psychometric evidence. This review demonstrated that there are few instruments available with the necessary psychometric data to merit recommendation. The review quantifies the current state of the research regarding the measurement of science attitude in students; the results should elicit further discussion and encourage more rigorous analyses of instruments. The findings may assist other researchers to select an instrument and alert them to its strengths and weaknesses. This review points the way forward for research in this field. Instruments already in existence should be used in repeat studies, and reliability and validity evidence should be collected and shared.

These analyses indicate that middle school students have not formed strong images regarding aging: No clear cohesive stereotypes of elders emerged from the images drawn by these children. Absence of stereotypic views implies that middle school students may not have a built-in bias toward older people and age-associated changes. This suggests that young adolescents are at a point where instruction including gerontological content can be used to effectively teach about aging and health promotion.

ABSTRACT:The Simpson-Troost Attitude Questionnaire (STAQ) was developed as part of a study to assess adolescent commitment to and achievement in science. For this psychometric reappraisal of the 57-item STAQ, data were analyzed from a convenience sample of 1,754 secondary students. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were applied, and results suggested that the STAQ can be shortened from 57 to 22 items spanning five

The central purposes of this study were to review the development and evolution of the Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI) and then reevaluate the psychometric properties of the revised form of the SAI, the Scientific Attitude Inventory II (SAI-II). The SAI-II was administered to a convenience sample of 543 middle and high school students from five teachers in four schools in four school districts in San Antonio, Texas, at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year. Confirmatory factor analysis on the full data set failed to support the existence of a 12-factor structure (as proposed by the scale developers) or a one-factor structure. The data were then randomly divided into exploratory [exploratory factor analysis (EFA)] validation and confirmatory [confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)] cross-validation sets. Exploratory and confirmatory models yielded a three-factor solution that did not fit the data well [w 2 (321) ¼ 646, p < .001; RMSEA ¼ .061 (.90 CI ¼ .054-.068); and CFI ¼ .81].

Middle-school students view their futures much more positively than the changes they observe in their parents and other elders. Students infrequently identified specific diseases or impairments as responsible for the changes they observe with aging. These observed responses provide a starting point for educators to develop and deliver gerontologically based materials that teach about healthful habits to maintain independence across a life span.

This controlled study demonstrated that use of the Positively Aging teaching materials and activities moved middle school students toward a more positive view of elders. Interdisciplinary teaching materials based on geriatrics and gerontology can be successfully developed and tested in public school systems to affect attitudes about aging.

An enduring concern among science education researchers is the “swing away from science” (Osborne. 2003). One of their central dilemmas is to identify—or construct—a valid outcome measure that could assess curricular effectiveness, and predict students' choices of science courses, university majors, or careers in science. Many instruments have been created and variably evaluated. The primary purpose of this paper was to re‐evaluate the psychometric properties of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale (ISSS) (Krajkovich 1978). In the current study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the dimensionality of the 29‐item ISSS, which was administered to 531 middle school students in three San Antonio. Texas school districts at the beginning of the 2004–2005 school year. The results failed to confirm the presumed 1‐factor structure of the ISSS. but instead showed a 3‐factor structure with only marginal fit with the data, even after removal of 12 inadequate items. The three dimensions were “Positive Images of Scientists” (5 items). “Negative Images of Scientists” (9 items), and “Science Avocation” (3 items). The results do not support use of the original form of the ISSS for measuring “attitudes toward science,”“images of scientists. “or “scientific attitudes. “Shortening the scale from 29 to 17 items makes it more feasible to use in a classroom setting. Determining whether the three dimensions identified in our analysis. “Positive Images of Scientists. ““Negative Images of Scientists. “and “Science Avocation “contain useful assessments of middle school student impressions and attitudes will require independent investigation in other samples.

The Women in Science Scale (WiSS) was first developed in 1984, and is still being used in contemporary studies, yet its psychometric properties have not been evaluated with current statistical methods. In this study, the WiSS was administered in its original 27-item form to 1,439 middle and high school students. Confirmatory factor analysis based upon the original description of the WiSS was modestly supportive of the proposed three-factor structure, but the claimed dimensions showed substantial redundancy. Therefore, we split our sample and performed exploratory factor analyses on one half. The most satisfactory solution, a two-factor model, was then applied to the crossvalidation sample with a confirmatory factor analysis. This two-factor structure was supported with a total of 14 items. Factor 1, Equality, contains eight items, and factor 2, Sexism, six items. Although our data are limited to adolescents, the WiSS, with improved psychometric properties, may be used descriptively to assess attitudes toward