Development of Instruments to Assess Students’ Spatial Learning Attitudes (SLA) and Interest in Science, Technology and Geospatial Technology (STEM-GEO)
Two new instruments were created to assess secondary students’ (ages 14-18) spatial learning attitudes and their interest in science and technology, related careers ideas and perceptions about geospatial technologies. These instruments were designed to evaluate the outcomes of a geospatial...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Tayfun Yagar
2020-02-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Educational Methodology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://ijem.com//IJEM_6_1_67.pdf |
| Summary: | Two new instruments were created to assess secondary students’ (ages 14-18) spatial learning attitudes and their interest in science and technology, related careers ideas and perceptions about geospatial technologies. These instruments were designed to evaluate the outcomes of a geospatial learning curriculum project. During a two-year period, we explored the use of these instruments during the prototype testing and pilot testing of a series of socio-environmental science investigations. The instruments were implemented with 664 ninth grade urban students from a population traditionally underrepresented in STEM-related fields. Both classical and Rasch analyses were conducted each year to optimize the instruments. The resulting 24-item Student Interest in Science, Technology and Geospatial Technology (STEM-GEO) measure and 9-item Spatial Learning Attitudes (SLA) measure had high internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach’s Alpha) as well as acceptable Rasch reliabilities. Content validity and construct validity evidence were also summarized and discussed. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2469-9632 2469-9632 |