Development and validation of a scientific and technological literacy test for secondary teachers of science

• Main Author: Catris, Leticia Venadas
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1999
• Subjects: Literacy; Science teachers; High school teachers; Ability > Testing; Examinations > Validity; Physics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/1268
• Institution: De La Salle University

The primary concern of this study is to develop and construct validate a test designed to assess scientific and technological literacy.The development and construct validation of the Scientific and Technological Literacy Test (STLT has five phases: I-Planning Stage 2-Test Construction Stage 3-Tryout Stage 4-Evaluation Stage and 5-Preparation of the Manual of Instruction. In the planning stage, an extensive review of related literature and studies was done and a survey on what science teachers' opinions and suggestions are on scientific and technological literacy was conducted. These served as the basis for deriving the constructs of scientific and technological literacy as well as formulating the initial pool of test items that are generated based on the constructs. The constructs were described in terms of behavior indicators, which served as groundwork for generating initially the item pool of 150 multiple choice type of questions. These were submitted to the research adviser and a panel of science education experts for content validity.The STLT was evaluated twice during the third phase. The respondents for the study in all tryout stages were teacher trainees from the different Regional Science Teaching Centers (RSTC) across the country. They are non-science majors undergoing summer training program in Earth Science, Chemistry and Physics. The final form of the STLT was evaluated through different types validation procedures: construct validity through factor analysis techniques and convergent-divergent validity and criterion-related validity through concurrent and predictive validity procedures. The final form of the STLT has an over-all reliability coefficient of .67. The last phase of the study involved the preparation of the manual of instruction. The instruction manual described the nature of the STLT and its administering and scoring procedures. The data gathered through validation procedures revealed the following findings: (1) Confirmation of the five previously identified constructs that contributed to the measurement of the total scientific and technological literacy. (2) Scientific and technological literacy is best measured by one's knowledge and understanding of the nature of science and technology. (3) There are evidences to show that the STLT is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the scientific and technological literacy levels of teachers.