Abstract
This study sought to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the factors of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean influence the ocean literacy of students in Taiwan after establishing measurement invariance across genders. The analyzed data were collected from self-reported questionnaires filled out by students aged 16–18 years old. The students’ ocean literacy was used as the outcome variable, while parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were employed as the independent variables. The effects of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean on ocean literacy were estimated with a multi-group structural equation model. Of the final total of 945 valid respondents in this study, 58.1% were male and 41.9% were female. The results from the multiple-group analysis supported measurement invariance across the genders. After establishing gender invariance, it was further found that higher degrees of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were positively related to ocean literacy. A considerable contribution was detected between parental education level and ocean literacy that was indirectly related through student attitude toward the ocean in the female student.
Highlights
The relationships between students’ ocean literacy, parental educational level (PEL), and attitude toward the ocean (ATO) have not been well explored in previous research, especially across different groups and cultures
The latent variable of student attitude toward the ocean was measured by three items that were modified from the TIMSS questionnaire scale
This study found that parental educational level only has a direct effect on ocean literacy for male students, whereas it does not have an indirect effect on ocean literacy for male students
Summary
The relationships between students’ ocean literacy, parental educational level (PEL), and attitude toward the ocean (ATO) have not been well explored in previous research, especially across different groups and cultures. These relationships are quite important for learning about the ocean. As such, understanding these relationships can help us to understand the learning paradigm more clearly and provide different perspectives across cultures. It can help us compare various educational practices and improve the learning progress of students with respect to ocean literacy. Numerous studies undertaking such cross-group comparisons have given little or no attention to this issue
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