Development and preliminary validation of the middle school students’ attitudes toward STEM learning scale

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure attitudes of middle school students toward STEM learning, including integrative STEM learning. The participants were 274 middle school students (grades 7–9) in Taiwan. Results from the expert review, exploratory factor analysis, correlational analysis, and group difference analysis provided different sources of validity evidence. Five factors were identified, including students’ interest/expectancies in math, perceptions of importance/utility of math, attitudes toward science, attitudes toward technology/engineering, and attitudes toward integrative STEM learning. Moderate correlations among the factors and STEM career interests and statistically significant group differences in terms of gender and participation in math remedial instruction were found. Multiple regression analysis results also showed that the five factors statistically significantly predicted STEM career interests. Internal consistency indicated an appropriate to excellent level. These results provided preliminary support for the psychometric properties to measure middle school students’ attitudes toward STEM learning. Finally, this study points out the critical role of integrative STEM learning in the construct and suggests further research on the mechanisms among expectancies for success, subjective task value, and persistence in learning STEM.