Development And Validation Of The Science Attitudes Assessment Tool For Junior Middle School Students

Academic achievement can only partly reflect the education quality,and the comprehensive development of the students is more important.The OECD(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)Learning Framework2030 clearly identifies the 37 qualities that are necessary for the students in their lifelong development,among which the attitude and responsibility are highlighted.To improve students’ scientific quality is the purpose to provide science education and the science attitudes is an important in this education,which is also a key indicator to assess the scientific quality.However it is always difficult to assess one’s science attitudes because it is an abstract concept hidden under the scientific education involved in various fields such as education,psychology,surveying and statistics.The stage of junior middle school is an important period for the students to form and develop their science attitudes.Therefore,a reasonable and scientific assessment tool is necessary to evaluate the students’ science attitudes in junior middle school.Based on junior middle school students as the research object,this paper will comprehensively analyze the existing science attitudes assessment tools,introduce the newly-developed assessment tool to evaluate the students’ science attitudes in junior middle school according to the actual mode of science education in China,and demonstrate its effectiveness through empirical research.This research,in accordance with the design concept of empirical research in international science education,is divided into three parts: theoretical analysis and model construction,framework design and tool development,tool application and promotion strategy.First,theoretical analysis and model construction.Based on documentary research and practical analysis,a theoretical model of students’ science attitudes in junior middle school is constructed.The theoretical model of students’ science attitudes in junior middle school contains 9 first-order factors and 3 second-order factors.The first-order factors are named as “Curious Attitude” “Realistic Attitude”“Questioning Attitude” “Attitude towards Scientific Knowledge” “Attitude towards Scientific Activities” “Attitude towards Scientific Career” “Attitude towards the Purpose of Scientific Education” “Attitude towards the Value of Scientific Learning”and “Attitudes toward Scientific learning methods ";The second-order factors are named as “Scientific Attitude","Attitudes toward Scientific ontology" and "Attitudetoward Scientific Learning."Second,framework design and tool development.According to the assessment model of students’ science attitudes in junior middle school which has been constructed,as well as the comparative study on foreign typical science attitudes assessment tools,the evaluation index system is established to assess students’ science attitudes in junior middle school.According to the evaluation index system combined with the actual situation in junior middle school education in China,the assessment tool for students’ science attitudes in junior middle school is developed.Through the test analysis,it is definite that the assessment tool to evaluate students’ science attitudes in junior middle school is a five-point Likert scale consisting of 33 projects.Through an examination on the project Discriminability and Cronbach’s alpha,the tool is proven to have good stability and internal consistency.Through the theoretical conception,practice investigation and expert evaluation,the tool is approved with good content validity.Through the test of the convergence validity and the difference validity,the tool shows good structural validity.Third,tool validation and promotion strategies.Through a comparative study on the gender,grade and school differences for students’ science attitudes in junior middle school,the tool has been proven to have good applicability,which can therefore be widely used to assess the students’ science attitudes in junior middle school with a unique applicable value in China.In view of the main problems found in the test,we would like to propose the following suggestions: More extracurricular activities on science and technology should be carried out,to cultivate students’ interest in science;The school and society should pay more attention to the critical period to develop students’ science attitudes,and give positive guidance;More attention should be paid to students’ gender differences,to develop students’ science attitudes form multiple dimensions;The differences between schools should be reduced and more importance shall be attached on scientific experimental teaching.Based on the theoretical and practical research on the assessment of student’s science attitudes in junior middle school,this paper aims to develop a science attitudes assessment tool for junior middle school students in accordance with China’s educational background,and help researchers and teachers in science education field to diagnose the existing problems and assess students’ science attitudes in junior middle school,which will provide an empirical basis to evaluate students’ science attitudes and improve science education effectively in junior middle school.