Measurement of Early Science and Mathematics Standard Instrument: Performance Assessment and psychometric setting using ZPD Concept

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to measure an instrument that could assess Early Science and Mathematics Standard in the domain of science and technology. Children’s measurement standards in early years include the performance in thinking skills. The design is a combination of the theoretical framework representing Early Sciences and Mathematics Standard and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Method/Analysis: We developed a performance assessment standard and scoring set (rubric) for measuring children’s responses. Participants in this study were 30 children of 2-year old and 30 children who were 3 years old. These children were from several child-care centres. 21 items on scientific attitude, scientific skills, investigate the nature of life, pre-number experience, concepts of number, shapes and space, and construction were assessed. Mathematical models such as the Rasch model have provided useful representations of social science problems where it coordinates data with the requirements of a useful definition of measurement. Findings: The study shows the Many-facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM) an extended version of the Rasch Model techniques which is combined with children’s measurement standards to examine the validity and reliability of scores for the performance rating scale. Additionally, an infit statistic (.76) for 2 years and (1.46) for 3 years for higher responses support the validity of scores. For reliability, the person reliability is good at .99, rater reliability is at .97, domain reliability is good at 1.00 and the item reliability is at .96 for overall scoring measure. Application/Improvement: This paper provides educators and researchers with a useful tool to facilitate measurement in early childhood years. It gives a great recommendation where the instrument is valid and reliable.Keywords: Early Science and Mathematics, Domain of Science and Technology, Performance Assessment Standard, Mathematical model, MFRM