Development and Validation of an Instrument to Understand High School Students' Attitudes Toward STEM

• In Event: Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Tailoring Survey Instruments for Varied Educational Contexts

Abstract

With three phases of development, an instrument to measure high school student’s attitudes toward STEM was piloted and validated. The instrument was adapted from an existing survey, and the items were changed after a pilot study with 30 students in the United States and an administration to 447 students in mainland China. The final version was given to 331 students in Macau Special Administrative Region of China. The responses to the final version of the instrument were reliable. The structural aspect of validity to the items were examined with confirmatory factor analysis. The study provides a valid instrument for high school teachers to understand their students’ attitudes toward STEM so that they can help these student enhance their learning experiences.

Authors

• Qiao Liu, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Chuang Wang, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Julia Wang, Weddington High School