Development and validation of an integrated science process skills test in high school chemistry

• Main Author: Magno, Ricky M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2001
• Subjects: Examinations > Validity; Examinations > Interpretation; Ability > Testing; Chemistry; Science > Study and teaching
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/2622
• Institution: De La Salle University

The main output of this descriptive correlational study is a forty-item four-option multiple-choice type of test. The validated test is known as Integrated Science Process Skills Test (ISPST) in High School Chemistry. The test measures the level of knowledge of the students in four integrated science process skills. These skills include identifying variables, operationally defining variables, inferring and formulating hypothesis as well as graphing and interpreting data.The respondents included in the study were 370 third year high school students enrolled in ten different schools in Iloilo City--200 students came from five schools following the general curriculum and 170 students from five other schools following a science-oriented curriculum.The study also aims to find significant correlations among the integrated science process skills test scores and selected student variables. Student variables included were gender, socio-economic status, father's occupation, attendance in preschool, membership in the science club, grade in chemistry and school curriculum type.Norms of the test were established for the third year high school students in general as well as in terms of school curriculum type. The norms and characteristics of the test were established by computing the following: mean score, standard deviation, difficulty index, discrimination index, KR-20 reliability index, standard error of measurement and t-test for independent samples. Equivalent standard scores and percentile ranks of the raw scores for the total sample was also computed. Multiple regression analysis was used to correlate the criterion measure (ISPST score) with other selected student variables and the prediction equation was likewise set up. The validated test demonstrated acceptable validity as determined by the average difficulty and discrimination indices and the evidence presented by the panel of experts. The internal consistency reliability coefficient using KR-20 was moderately high for pilot studies 1 and 2. Results also revealed that the students under the science-oriented curriculum obtained significantly higher scores than their counterparts under the general curriculum. Further analysis showed that a positive and significant correlation existed between the integrated science process skills test scores and the following student variables: grade in chemistry, school curriculum type and attendance in preschool.