Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Biotechnology of Elementary Education Preservice Teachers: The first Spanish experience

Casanoves, Marina; González, Á.; Salvadó, Zoel; Haro, Juan; Novo, Maïté

doi:10.1080/09500693.2015.1116718

Cited by 18 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Yet, it is not always clear how authors intend this to be understood or what the statistic actually reflects. One might pose the question of how we are to understand a construct such as "students' understanding of solution chemistry concepts" (Adadan & Savasci, 2011) or "knowledge of evolution" (Athanasiou & Mavrikaki, 2013) or "knowledge level of biotechnology and genetics" (Casanoves et al, 2015) or "conceptual knowledge of light" (Mumba et al, 2015).…”

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mumba and colleagues actually state that the "conceptual knowledge of light" test they used in their study (where Cronbach's alpha was 0.83) probes "17 light concepts" (Mumba et al, 2015, p. 191), and these are quite a diverse set including, inter-alia, reflection, shadow formation, speed of light, refraction, vision, electromagnetic spectrum, filters, and the transverse nature of waves. Casanoves et al (2015) present the 21 items that made up their instrument for assessing knowledge of biotechnology, for which they reported "reliability (Cronbach's α) of … .721" (p.2930). This instrument includes a wide range of items relating to such matters as applications of microorganisms in biotechnology ("bacteria are used in the elaboration of daily products (e.g.…”

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Detailing instrument items within research reports supports readers in interpreting and evaluating those reports. An examination of the items included in the instrument reported by Casanoves et al (2015) allows a reader to see both that a range of aspects of knowledge of biotechnology are being tested, and also that the instrument includes multiple items to elicit knowledge of specific concepts (such as genetic modification; food products) within the topic. This latter feature would be expected to lead to individual items having shared variance with some other items when the instrument is administered to a student group, providing the basis for a high value of alpha across the overall instrument.…”

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

2017

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Cronbach's alpha is a statistic commonly quoted by authors to demonstrate that tests and scales that have been constructed or adopted for research projects are fit for purpose. Cronbach's alpha is regularly adopted in studies in science education: it was referred to in 69 different papers published in 4 leading science education journals in a single year (2015)-usually as a measure of reliability. This article explores how this statistic is used in reporting science education research and what it represents. Authors often cite alpha values with little commentary to explain why they feel this statistic is relevant and seldom interpret the result for readers beyond citing an arbitrary threshold for an acceptable value. Those authors who do offer readers qualitative descriptors interpreting alpha values adopt a diverse and seemingly arbitrary terminology. More seriously, illustrative examples from the science education literature demonstrate that alpha may be acceptable even when there are recognised problems with the scales concerned. Alpha is also sometimes inappropriately used to claim an instrument is unidimensional. It is argued that a high value of alpha offers limited evidence of the reliability of a research instrument, and that indeed a very high value may actually be undesirable when developing a test of scientific knowledge or understanding. Guidance is offered to authors reporting, and readers evaluating, studies that present Cronbach's alpha statistic as evidence of instrument quality.

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Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

2017

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“…In the science education context, where the construct has been problematised, the models used are the unitary model and the tripartite model. For example, instruments used to asses students science attitudes has historically not distinguished between the affective, behavioural or cognitive components of the tripartite model, but rather on the affective or evaluative components (Koballa Jr & Glynn, 2007) There are several examples of studies on attitudes in BTER using specific unitary models or undefined basic attitude models (Casanoves, Gonzalez, Salvado, Haro, & Novo, 2015;S. Y. Chen, Chu, Lin, & Chiang, 2016;Dawson & Schibeci, 2003;Kidman, 2009;Mowen, Roberts, Wingenbach, & Harlin, 2007;Prokop, Lešková, Kubiatko, & Diran, 2007).…”

Section: Attitude Models In Science Education Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary School Biology Students’ Attitudes towards Modern Biotechnology Characterised using Structural Equation Modeling

Nordqvist

Johansson

2019

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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In biotechnology education research (BTER), the multifaceted construct of attitude has seldom been problematised in depth despite that the majority of studies in BTER during the last two decades have focused on students' attitudes towards modern biotechnology. Most studies on attitudes in science education use a single-factor model in characterising students' attitudes, while some use a three-factor model. By means of structural equation modeling the current study tested and evaluated single, three-factor, and bifactor models of student attitudes towards modern biotechnology. To further shed light on the stability of this model measurement invariance testing was carried out for groups; school-type, gender, grade, parental education and educational programme. The results showed that a three-factor model and a bifactor model showed satisfying fit to the student attitude data. The bifactor model were relatively invariant for all groups except for gender, where boys had a more positive attitude. The affective and behavioural aspects of attitudes were highly correlated why the bifactor model with its general factor and specific cognitive factor may provide a more sound explanation of students' attitudes towards biotechnology. The results indicate the importance of including affective and behavioural dimensions of attitude in biotechnology teaching. Further implications for practice are discussed.

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“…A study has found that university students have inadequate knowledge in the fields of biotechnology and environmental education and their awareness in these fields change depending on their academic achievement [14]. In addition, it has been noted that while pre-service teachers were aware of biotechnological applications, they could not answer the questions about genetic information and biotechnological processes correctly [15]. A study has reported that pre-service biology teachers had low levels of knowledge of gene technologies [16].…”

Section: Teaching Of Genetics and Biotechnology Topicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Innovative Teaching Approaches on Biotechnology Knowledge and Laboratory Experiences of Science Teachers

Orhan

Sahin

2018

Education Sciences

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The current study presents an evaluation of the laboratory instructional tasks prepared based on innovative teaching approaches (research-inquiry, problem solving, project, argumentation and web-based interdisciplinary learning approaches) designed to enhance science teachers’ biotechnology knowledge, awareness and laboratory experiences. The laboratory instructional tasks developed by the researchers aim to improve the laboratory experiences, as well as support the teaching of biotechnology through innovative teaching approaches. For this purpose, in-service training course titled Biotechnology Education Practices was conducted with the voluntary participation of science teachers (n = 17). The current study employed the embedded design. The quantitative part of the embedded design is designed as the single group pretest-posttest model and the qualitative part of it is designed as the case study. The data of the current study were collected through the Biotechnology Awareness Questionnaire, Biotechnology Evaluation Questions, The Laboratory Self-Evaluation form and worksheets. The results obtained from the analyses revealed that the instructional tasks conducted within the context of the Biotechnology Education Practices resulted in significant effects on the science teachers’ biotechnology knowledge and awareness and that the innovative teaching approaches were effective in developing the science teachers’ laboratory experiences. It would be useful to use laboratory instructional tasks enriched with innovative teaching approaches in teaching biotechnology subjects.

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Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Biotechnology of Elementary Education Preservice Teachers: The first Spanish experience

Cited by 18 publications

References 34 publications

The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

Secondary School Biology Students’ Attitudes towards Modern Biotechnology Characterised using Structural Equation Modeling

The Impact of Innovative Teaching Approaches on Biotechnology Knowledge and Laboratory Experiences of Science Teachers

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