Development and validation of an instrument to assess student attitudes toward science across grades 5 through 10

The development of three‐dimensional learning among all K‐12 student demographics remains a prominent goal for the field of science education. However, substantial research in science teacher education for urban populations showcases hurdles to overcome in order to achieve this goal, particularly for elementary teachers. Research shows that urban elementary teachers are often ill‐prepared to develop a type of science pedagogy responsive to students' learning needs. The fidelity of such pedagogies that these teachers adhere to when trying to implement such a requested content–relationality between these populations and how their local contexts can be used as sites to learn science in relevant ways are often not fully realized, as well. Given that science achievement gaps exhibit racial disparities starting in primary grades and attitudes toward science have been shown to affect academic achievement and motivation, we argue that one way to ameliorate, in at least an incremental way, this disparity is to design novel learning experiences to prime students to see the relevancy of science in their local contexts before such three‐dimensional designed learning is set to occur. In this research, we leveraged the immersive nature of Virtual Reality 360 videos and present a design‐based research iteration testing how this novel technologically enhanced learning experience may have influenced close to 400 urban elementary students' attitudes toward science around those attitudes labeled as “behavioral beliefs” by the field. Using a concurrent, convergent mixed‐methods design with a two‐way multivariate analysis of covariance quantitative data set triangulated with students' qualitative self‐reports that were transformed into quantitative preponderances in graphic form, the data support that our design iteration emphasizing the importance of context as a design focus can prime students who struggle to see science as relevant to change their attitudes. Implications are discussed around relationality, novel technological affordances, and the use of local contexts as learning resources.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priming urban learners' attitudes toward the relevancy of science: A mixed‐methods study testing the importance of context

Boda

Brown

2019

“… TRAPB theoretical model as measured by the BRAINS with construct definitions (Source: Adapted from Summers & Abd‐El‐Khalick, ) Abbreviation: BRAINS, Behaviors, Related Attitudes, and Intentions toward Science; TRAPB, theories of reasoned action and planned behavior [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com] …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This process included item development and review by an expert review panel of an initial pool of items, which comprised items derived from several extant attitude‐toward‐science instruments, as well as items developed by the authors. Pilot administration was used to collect feedback about online delivery (Qualtrics®), and the final statistical validation of the instrument and its underlying structure were derived from a representative random sample of 1,291 students in Illinois (for more information see Summers & Abd‐El‐Khalick, ). The 30‐item finalized instrument model demonstrated a good fit with a Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) of 0.04, a Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMSR) of 0.04, a comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.95, and a Tucker‐Lewis index (TLI) of 0.95.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address this gap in the literature this study considered individual and group‐level variables, collected from science teachers and schools, and used these data to explore the influence of the variables identified in explaining students' self‐reported attitudes and intentions related to science. Because many past studies have been condemned due to inadequate instrumentation or absent theoretical underpinnings (see Blalock et al, ; Lovelace & Brickman, ), a measure was selected that had addressed these issues during the development process (Summers & Abd‐El‐Khalick, ). Data were collected using a cross‐sectional design (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 2002) by obtaining responses from a large number of students and their teachers in Grades 5 through 10 across a large geographical area.…”

Section: Purposementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An exploration of Illinois students' attitudes toward science using multivariate multilevel modeling with a cross‐sectional sample of responses from grades 5 through 10

Summers

Abd‐El‐Khalick

2019

Self Cite

“…A huge number of published studies try to explain the influence of various factors affecting interest in, and attitudes, intentions and actions toward particular STEM disciplines, school subjects and university courses, and consequently the selection or de‐selection of a professional career within these disciplines (e.g., Summers & Abd‐El‐Khalick, ). The factors can be broadly classified as gender, personality, structural variables, and curriculum variables (Trumper, ), the last of which falls within the scope of the present study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opinions about STEM content and classroom experiences as predictors of upper secondary school students' career aspirations to become researchers or teachers

Šorgo

Dojer

Golob³

et al. 2018

The shortage of qualified STEM teachers and researchers in these fields can be recognized as an existing and forthcoming problem. The aim of the present study was to explore the influence of the content of STEM subjects Biology, Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics, Physics, and Technics and Technology and corresponding classroom experiences, as perceived by students, in elementary and general secondary schools on student's career aspirations and ambition to work as researchers or educators as their career choice. The sample comprised 552 upper general school students (ages 17 to 19) in their last two years before entering University. We hypothesized that a combination of general interest in each of the six listed disciplines, together with the content taught in elementary and upper secondary school, together with respective classroom experiences, will influence career aspirations expressed by ranking their wish to work as educators or researchers. With the use of Structural Equation Modeling, we revealed that Biology, Chemistry, and Physics can statistically significantly explain career aspirations to become a researcher. However, Informatics, Mathematics, and Technics and Technology cannot. None of the listed disciplines positively predicts career aspirations to become an educator. From the correlation between ranked aspirations toward a research and an educational career (r 5 -.03; p 5 .964), we can conclude that most of those who considered a career as a researcher as a plausible option do not share the same opinion about a career in education.