Journals / Journal of Turkish Science Education / 2012 / Cilt: 9 - Sayı: 2
Adaptation of astronomy attitude scale into Turkish: The validity and reliability analysis
- Pages
- 116–127
- DOI
- —
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Astronomy is one of the earliest sciences (Osborne, 1991; Pena & Quilez, 2001), and nowadays a strong emphasis has been placed on topics related to astronomy in science curriculum and standards (Kalkan & Kıroğlu, 2007; National Research Council [NRC], 1996) throughout the world. In Turkey, Turkish elementary science and technology curriculum was renewed in 2005 in accordance with the constructivist approach. Astronomy concepts were included into the new science and technology curriculum. Astronomy related topics in the new K-12 science curriculum are: shape and structure of earth (4th grade), size and shape of sun, earth and moon – moon and earth motion – day and night cycle (5th grade), orbs, solar system and space probes (7th grade), and formation of universe and earth 8th grade) (Turkish Ministry of National Education [TMNE], 2004, 2005). In this new science and technology curriculum, it has been pointed out that it is important for students to gain a positive attitude toward astronomy. Moreover, since the universe is a natural laboratory for many scientific laws, students’ positive attitude toward astronomy is closely related to their attitude toward physics, chemistry, and biology (Tunca, 2000). According to Smith (1968), attitude is “the tendency which is attributed to the individual and which includes one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour about a psychological object” (cited in Kağıtçıbaşı, 2010, p. 110). Tezbaşaran (1997) defined attitude as the learned tendency to have a positive or negative reaction towards an object, situation, institution, concept or other people. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Most of the research studies conducted in Turkey regarding astronomy education were carried out to identify students’ understanding of astronomy (Bayraktar, 2009; Ekiz & Akbaş, 2005; Emrahoğlu & Öztürk, 2009; Kalkan, Ustabaş & Kalkan, 2007; Küçüközer, 2008; Orbay & Gökdere, 2006; Ünsal, Güneş & Ergin, 2001). In the literature no quantitative studies can be located that carried out to investigate students’ attitudes toward astronomy in Turkey. Not only in Turkey but also in the worldwide, there are a limited number of studies about students’ attitudes toward astronomy (De Roberts & Delanay, 1993; Zeilik, Bisard & Lee, 2002; Zeilik et al., 1997; Zeilik & Morris, 2003; Zeilik, Schau & Mattern, 1999). The Astronomy Attitude Scale (AAS) is developed by Zeilik and his colleagues in 1999, is the most well-known scale for measuring attitude toward astronomy. The purpose of this study is to adapt AAS developed by Zeilik et al. (1999) into Turkish, and investigate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the scale.
Özet
Bu çalışmanın amacı Zeilik ve arkadaşları (1999) tarafından geliştirilen, “Astronomi Tutum Ölçeği (ATÖ)”ni Türkçe’ye uyarlamak ve ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizlerini yapmaktır. Araştırmaya Ankara Üniversitesi Astronomi Bölümü’nden 83 öğrenci ve üç farklı Eğitim Fakültesi’nden (Amasya, Gazi ve Kocaeli Üniversitesi) astronomi dersi almış olan 172 öğretmen adayı katılmıştır. Araştırmada ölçeğin dilsel eşdeğerliği incelendikten sonra geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizleri yapılmıştır. Faktör analizi sonucunda, Türkçe’ye uyarlanan ölçeğin orijinal ölçekten farklı olarak iki boyutlu olduğu ve 15 maddeden oluştuğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Ölçeğin Cronbach alfa iç tutarlık katsayısı .80 olarak belirlenmiştir. Ölçeğin iki faktörüne ait Cronbach alfa iç tutarlık katsayısı ise .71 ve .77 dir. Açımlayıcı ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizi sonucunda elde edilen bulgular ATÖ’nün geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçek olduğunu göstermektedir.