This dissertation includes two independent research projects, one in astronomy education research and the other in planetary science/astrophysics research. In the first research effort, we investigate college students' conceptual and reasoning difficulties on the topic of planet formation pre-instruction. Through an analysis of over 1,000…

Existing Australian measures of racist attitudes focus on single groups or have not been validated across the lifespan. To redress this, the present research aimed to develop and validate a measure of racial, ethnic, cultural and religious acceptance--the Australian Racism, Acceptance, and Cultural-Ethnocentrism Scale (RACES)--for use with…

A multilevel analysis approach was used to analyse students' evaluation of teaching (SET). The low value of inter-rater reliability stresses that any solid conclusions on teaching cannot be made on the basis of single feedbacks. To assess a teacher's general teaching effectiveness, one needs to evaluate four randomly chosen course implementations.…

A theory was conceived to explain student, teacher, and classroom environment characteristics or constructs, which may influence student attitudes toward school and various subjects. A questionnaire representing the constructs, the Inventory of Affective Aspects of Schooling (IAAS), was developed and administered to 601 students in grade 4. Factor…

The Mikulecky Behavioral Reading Attitude Measure (MBRAM) was designed to measure secondary and postsecondary respondents' attitudes toward reading based on Krathwohl's affective development model. This study investigated the factorial validity of the MBRAM using the responses of 411 gifted junior high school students. (Author/BS)

The purpose of the study was to determine comparability of an online version to the original paper-pencil version of Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT2). This study employed methods from both Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). Findings from CTT analyses supported the reliability and discriminant validity of both versions.…

Reports the results of several test-reliability experiments which compared a modified confidence weighted-admissible probability measurement (MCW-APM) with conventional forced choice or binary type (R-W) test scoring methods. Psychometric properties using G theory and conventional correlational methods are examined, and their implications for…

Fifty education majors in two sections responded to an Attitudes toward Mathematics and Its Teaching (ATMAT) scale. Results with two psychometric models, classical true-score theory and the one-parameter Rasch model, supported the ATMAT's reliability, content and construct validity, and invariance over three time points. (SLD)

Items from two American instruments (Students' Evaluation of Educational Effectiveness, and the Endeavor instrument) designed to measure students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness were translated into Spanish and administered to a sample of Spanish university students. Most of the items were judged by the students to be appropriate; every…

The 1976 Educational Testing Service (ETS) Invitational Conference served as a platform for individuals who have been prominent in educational measurement and research to present their views on issues surrounding the testing controversy. The 1976 ETS "The Testing Scene: Chaos and Controversy," presents a historical review of events surrounding the…