There is no need or point to testing of knowledge, attributes, traits, behaviours or abilities of an individual if information obtained from the test is inaccurate. However, by and large, it seems the estimation of psychometric properties of test items in classroomshas been completely ignored otherwise dying slowly in most testing environments. In…

This paper describes the design and evaluation of the Organic chemistry Representational Competence Assessment (ORCA). Grounded in Kozma and Russell's representational competence framework, the ORCA measures the learner's ability to "interpret," "translate," and "use" six commonly used representations of molecular…

Limited research has been conducted on the spatial ability of veterinary students and how this is evaluated within anatomy assessments. This study describes the creation and evaluation of a split design multiple-choice question (MCQ) assessment (totaling 30 questions divided into 15 non-spatial MCQs and 15 spatial MCQs). Two cohorts were tested,…

The present study has aimed to develop and validate a protein concept inventory (PCI) consisting of 25 multiple-choice (MC) questions to assess students' understanding of protein, which is a fundamental concept across different biology disciplines. The development process of the PCI involved a literature review to identify protein-related content,…

Preschool teachers' domain-specific professional knowledge is assumed to play an important role in the quality of early childhood education and thus in young children's learning in different areas. Due to a lack of adequate instruments little is known about preschool teachers' science-specific knowledge. In order to develop such a test instrument,…

In this study, it is aimed to adapt the Scientific Reasoning Scale (SRS) into Turkish. The translated form has been provided to the students enrolled at different levels together with a form in which they were requested to present what they have understood and the reason of their responses. It was seen that the explanations of students to one item…

The aim of this study was to develop a Scientific Process Skills Test (SPST) in the context of ''Matter and its Nature''. It was investigated whether there was a predictive effect of demographical features and participating out-of-school learning opportunities across the 7th and 8th grade students' Scientific Process Skill (SPS) levels.…

Pedagogical practitioners who emphasise active learning in undergraduate chemistry courses widely use the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) instrument to measure students' perceptions of their gains in knowledge and skills in chemistry. Although numerous studies have reported SALG results in support of successful pedagogical…

Admission into university in Turkey is very competitive and features a number of practical problems regarding not only the test administration process itself, but also concerning the psychometric properties of test scores. Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is seen as a possible alternative approach to solve these problems. In the first phase of…

Students are more likely to be successful in topics they are interested in than others. This study aims to develop an Acid-Base Interest Scale (ABIS) and subsequently evaluate the interest of pre-service science teachers in acids-bases according to gender, years at the university, type of high school the pre-service science teachers attended, and…

Understanding attitudes toward science and measuring them remain two major challenges for science teaching. This article reviews the concept of attitudes toward science and their measurement. It subsequently analyzes the psychometric properties of the "Test of Science-Related Attitudes" (TOSRA), such as its construct validity, its…

The purposes of this study were to (1) adapt an instrument "The Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) questionnaire" into Turkish, and (2) to determine Turkish science teacher candidates' COLS. Adapting the instrument four steps were followed. Firstly, COLS questionnaire was translated into Turkish. Secondly, COLS questionnaire was…

Many innovative item formats have been proposed over the past decade, but little empirical research has been conducted on their measurement properties. This study examines the reliability, efficiency, and construct validity of two innovative item formats--the figural response (FR) and constructed response (CR) formats used in a K-12 computerized…

Biochemistry is a challenging subject because student learning depends on the application of previously learned concepts from general chemistry and biology to new, biological contexts. This article describes the development of a multiple-choice instrument intended to measure five concepts from general chemistry and three from biology that are…

This study examined the scores on a state standards-based Grade 5 Science assessment obtained by a group of students without learning disabilities who took the standard form of the test and by three groups of students with learning disabilities: one taking the standard form of the test without accommodations or modifications, a second taking the…