Enhancing students' conceptual understanding is one of the primary goals of science education. Existing literature suggests that the degree of knowledge integration among students can reflect their level of conceptual understanding. This study focuses on the concept of friction force, constructing a cognitive structure model of friction force to…

In this paper, we described the development of the High School Wave Optics Test (HSWOT). Firstly, 56 conceptual, multiple-choice items with a single correct answer and three distractors were created. Next, we conducted an initial review of the items which resulted in reducing the item pool to 44 highest quality items. Validity evidence and…

This article reports the development of a two-tier simple electric circuits test (2T-SEC Test). Simple electric circuits are introduced to students early in their school years and are an important part of the physics curriculum all the way to the university level. However, many students do not develop an adequate conceptual understanding of simple…

Promoting student engagement in learning activities and tasks has been a pivotal issue and goal of science education. Relevant literature has not yet addressed the underlying associations among students' self-efficacy and engagement in science learning from a multi-dimensional perspective. Thus, this study aimed to examine the structural…

Science educators have highlighted the need to develop students to integrate knowledge across science disciplines to address real-world issues. However, there has been little research about the development of interdisciplinary assessment instruments. In this research, the instrument that measures the level of upper-secondary school students'…

Mass assessment of large samples' nature of science views has been one of the core concerns in science education research. Due to impracticality of using open-ended questionnaires or conducting interviews with large groups, another line of research has been required for mass assessment of pupils' nature of science conception meaningfully.…

Although researchers call for inquiry learning in science, science assessments rarely capture the impact of inquiry instruction. This paper reports on the development and validation of assessments designed to measure middle-school students' progress in gaining integrated understanding of energy while studying an inquiry-oriented curriculum. The…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate two hierarchically related measures of concept generalizability. The two concepts were "Insect" and "Animal." The tests were organized in a novel format consisting of three degrees of stimulus complexity. The three degrees of complexity contained sets of pictures of each…