Atmosphere-related environmental problems diagnostic test: A validation study in Bosnia and Herzegovina university student

Abstract

This study was conducted with three aims. The first aim of our study was to examine both construct-related validity and content validity of the Atmosphere-related environmental problems diagnostic test (Arslan et al. 2012) in Bosnia and Herzegovina university student sample. The Atmosphere-related environmental problems diagnostic test is a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test consisting of 13 questions on global warming, greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion and acid rain. The second aim of this study was to examine scientific understanding as well as misunderstanding of atmosphere-related environmental problems among B&H university student sample. Finally, the third aim of our study was to compare scientific understanding and misconceptions of the atmosphere-related environmental problems with respect to educational background. A total of 445 students (22,7% males) of three faculty participated in the research. Results indicate that Atmosphere-related environmental problems diagnostic test measures a single construct of general scientific knowledge about atmosphere-related environmental problems. In addition, the content validity and reliability were satisfactory. Results obtained in our study show that students’ overall understanding of each content area was low but comparable to knowledge of pre-service teachers in the USA (Arslan et al. 2012; Kahraman, 2019). Similar to earlier research, most incorrect answers resulted from lack of knowledge rather than from misconceptions. Students who attended ecology classes scored higher than students who had not attended these classes. However, although having higher scores on Atmosphere-related environmental problems diagnostic test, students who attended ecology classes also exhibited more misconceptions related to atmosphere-related environmental problems compare to who had not attended ecology classes. This finding indicates that in the context of university education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one has to also check for possible sources of didaktikogenic misconceptions related to environmental education.