TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychometric Re-evaluation of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale (ISSS)
AU - Marshall, Carolyn E.
AU - Blalock, Cheryl L.
AU - Liu, Yan
AU - Pruski, Linda A.
AU - Toepperwein, Mary Anne
AU - Owen, Steven V.
AU - Lichtenstein, Michael J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the administration, teachers, and students from Edgewood ISD, Northside ISD, and San Antonio ISD, San Antonio, Texas that allowed us to collect the information to evaluate the ISSS. Our special thanks go to Linda Bononcini, Assistant Superintendent Edgewood ISD; Anne Lackner-Messer, Principal and Yvonne Sandoval, Science Teacher at Gus Garcia MS. From Northside ISD, thanks to Dr. Phil Linerode. Evaluation Specialist: Alice Fiedler, Science Curriculum Specialist; John Folds, Superintendent: and Priscilla Shaver, Gifted/Talented Coordinator; Lynn Pierson, Principal and Jose Roger Luna, Special Eduation teacher at Luna MS; Martha Campbell, Principal and Della Nagle, Reading Teacher from Jordan MS. From San Antonio ISD, our thanks go to Ruban Olivares, Superintendent; Bill Vinal, Science Director; Anita Chavera, Principal and Josephine Rose, Language Arts Teacher from Irving MS; and, Sylvia Lopez, Principal and Veronica Kanthu, Mathematics Teacher from Longfellow, MS.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Science Education Partnership Award R25‐RR‐18549 (National Center for Research Resources [NCRR] and the National Institute on Aging [NIA]), a Minority K‐12 Initiative for Teachers and Students Grant R25‐HL‐075777 (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [NHLBI]) and MO1‐RR‐01346 for the Frederic C. Bartter General Clinical Research Center. The NCRR, NIA, and NHLBI are all part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCRR, NIA, NHLBI, or NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
2007 School Science and Mathematics Association.
PY - 2007/4
Y1 - 2007/4
N2 - An enduring concern among science education researchers is the “swing away from science” (Osborne. 2003). One of their central dilemmas is to identify—or construct—a valid outcome measure that could assess curricular effectiveness, and predict students' choices of science courses, university majors, or careers in science. Many instruments have been created and variably evaluated. The primary purpose of this paper was to re-evaluate the psychometric properties of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale (ISSS) (Krajkovich 1978). In the current study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the dimensionality of the 29-item ISSS, which was administered to 531 middle school students in three San Antonio. Texas school districts at the beginning of the 2004–2005 school year. The results failed to confirm the presumed 1-factor structure of the ISSS. but instead showed a 3-factor structure with only marginal fit with the data, even after removal of 12 inadequate items. The three dimensions were “Positive Images of Scientists” (5 items). “Negative Images of Scientists” (9 items), and “Science Avocation” (3 items). The results do not support use of the original form of the ISSS for measuring “attitudes toward science,”“images of scientists. “or “scientific attitudes. “Shortening the scale from 29 to 17 items makes it more feasible to use in a classroom setting. Determining whether the three dimensions identified in our analysis. “Positive Images of Scientists. ““Negative Images of Scientists. “and “Science Avocation “contain useful assessments of middle school student impressions and attitudes will require independent investigation in other samples.
AB - An enduring concern among science education researchers is the “swing away from science” (Osborne. 2003). One of their central dilemmas is to identify—or construct—a valid outcome measure that could assess curricular effectiveness, and predict students' choices of science courses, university majors, or careers in science. Many instruments have been created and variably evaluated. The primary purpose of this paper was to re-evaluate the psychometric properties of the Image of Science and Scientists Scale (ISSS) (Krajkovich 1978). In the current study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the dimensionality of the 29-item ISSS, which was administered to 531 middle school students in three San Antonio. Texas school districts at the beginning of the 2004–2005 school year. The results failed to confirm the presumed 1-factor structure of the ISSS. but instead showed a 3-factor structure with only marginal fit with the data, even after removal of 12 inadequate items. The three dimensions were “Positive Images of Scientists” (5 items). “Negative Images of Scientists” (9 items), and “Science Avocation” (3 items). The results do not support use of the original form of the ISSS for measuring “attitudes toward science,”“images of scientists. “or “scientific attitudes. “Shortening the scale from 29 to 17 items makes it more feasible to use in a classroom setting. Determining whether the three dimensions identified in our analysis. “Positive Images of Scientists. ““Negative Images of Scientists. “and “Science Avocation “contain useful assessments of middle school student impressions and attitudes will require independent investigation in other samples.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2007.tb17929.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2007.tb17929.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:55849122051
SN - 0036-6803
VL - 107
SP - 149
EP - 160
JO - School Science and Mathematics
JF - School Science and Mathematics
IS - 4
ER -