An Assessment of Factors Related to Ocean Literacy Based on Gender-Invariance Measurement

Abstract

This study sought to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the factors of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean influence the ocean literacy of students in Taiwan after establishing measurement invariance across genders. The analyzed data were collected from self-reported questionnaires filled out by students aged 16–18 years old. The students’ ocean literacy was used as the outcome variable, while parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were employed as the independent variables. The effects of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean on ocean literacy were estimated with a multi-group structural equation model. Of the final total of 945 valid respondents in this study, 58.1% were male and 41.9% were female. The results from the multiple-group analysis supported measurement invariance across the genders. After establishing gender invariance, it was further found that higher degrees of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were positively related to ocean literacy. A considerable contribution was detected between parental education level and ocean literacy that was indirectly related through student attitude toward the ocean in the female student.

The Beginning of Marine Sustainability: Preliminary Results of Measuring Students’ Marine Knowledge and Ocean Literacy

“…Other relevant Taiwanese studies have indicated that parents' education level positively influences the cultivation of students' ocean attitude and literacy. In particular, parents with high education levels were indirectly related to the cultivation of ocean attitudes and literacy among female students [63].…”

Effect of a Stem-Oriented Course on Students’ Marine Science Motivation, Interest, and Achievements

“…For this 5-point Likert-type scale, students could select one option for each question (strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree). The scale had four subscales, namely attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction, and 16 questions in total were asked (Lin et al, 2019). Although Lin et al (2019) demonstrated that this scale has good reliability and validity, its internal consistency and construct validity were again verified in this study.…”

“…However, pollution of ocean waters and the severity of ocean-related environmental problems have continued to increase. Inappropriate handling of oceanic resources and helplessness in the face of marine disasters indicate that Taiwanese citizens have generally received insufficient ocean education (Chang, 2015;Tsai et al, 2019). In the face of globalisation, the supply of talent for ocean-related industries does not meet the demand, a problem which is exacerbated by students having low willingness to seek occupations in marine industries.…”

The Impacts of a Marine Science Board Game on Motivation, Interest, and Achievement in Marine Science Learning

“…The total score was 80.58 (53.72%), and the performance was not satisfactory. According to the assessment results of the three dimensions, the marine science concepts of the students only reached the moderate level (Tsai & Chang, 2018;Chang, 2019;Tsai, Lin, & Chang, 2019).…”