Evolution and validation of a personal form of an instrument for assessing science laboratory classroom environments

Abstract

The research reported in this article makes two distinctive contributions to the field of classroom environment research. First, because existing instruments are unsuitable for science laboratory classes, the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) was developed and validated. Second, a new Personal form of the SLEI (involving a student's perceptions of his or her own role within the class) was developed and validated in conjunction with the conventional Class form (involving a student's perceptions of the class as a whole), and its usefulness was investigated. The instrument was cross‐nationally fieldtested with 5,447 students in 269 senior high school and university classes in six countries, and cross‐validated with 1,594 senior high school students in 92 classes in Australia. Each SLEI scale exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and factorial validity, and differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classes. A variety of applications with the new instrument furnished evidence about its usefulness and revealed that science laboratory classes are dominated by closed‐ended activities; mean scores obtained on the Class form were consistently somewhat more favorable than on the corresponding Personal form; females generally held more favorable perceptions than males, but these differences were somewhat larger for the Personal form than the Class form; associations existed between attitudinal outcomes and laboratory environment dimensions; and the Class and Personal forms of the SLEI each accounted for unique variance in student outcomes which was independent of that accounted for by the other form.

An Analysis of the Factorial Structure of the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire with Brazilian High School Science Students

“…This result differed from previous international studies which showed that girls tend to be more positive than boys (Fraser et al, 1995;Khine & Fisher, 2003;She & Fisher, 2002). From the perspective of teacher professional development, this is an encouraging result since schooling effectiveness ought not to depend on learner demographic characteristics.…”

“…For example, the effect of student gender is most widely studied in Asia (Fraser, 2002), with the results showing that girls, compared to boys, tend to (a) perceive their learning environments more positively (Fraser, Giddings, & McRobbie, 1995;Khine & Fisher, 2003;She & Fisher, 2002), (b) report higher levels of encouragement and praise (Frumkin, 2006), (c) have more positive perceptions of all five TCBQ factors (Frumkin & Murphy, 2007), and (d) perceive their teachers as providing more encouragement and praise and exhibiting greater understanding and friendlier behaviors (Özay, Kaya, & Sezek, 2004;Yilmaz Tüzün, 2006). In contrast, male students have reported to perceive their teachers as more controlling (Yilmaz Tüzün, 2006).…”

<p>Pupils Identify Key Aspects and Outcomes of a Technological Learning Environment</p>

“…Over the past two decades, the contribution that a rich learning environment makes toward attaining educational goals such as improvement in learning achievements and attitudes towards studies and school has been considered in educational research (Fraser, Giddings, & McRobbie, 1995;Fraser & Tobin, 1991;Perkins, 1992). The term rich learning environment not only includes physical devices, such as experiment kits or computers, but also the teaching technique, the type of activity pupils engage in, and the method of assessment.…”

Investigating the Longer-Term Impact of the CREST Inquiry-Based Learning Programme on Student Self-regulated Processes and Related Motivations: Views of Students and Teachers

“…Further observational research conducting classroom observations (e.g. using the Fraser et al 1995 instrument for assessing the science classroom environments) and multilevel quantitative analyses taking into account the clustered nature of the data and involving more comparison conditions is needed in order to fully address this issue. However, De Corte et al (2004) state that the high degree of ecological validity is defensible and appropriate when looking at evaluating a classroom curriculum-embedded programme.…”