Development of online science process skills test for 8. grade pupils

Abstract

Science process skills are an important part of scientific inquiry that need to be monitored so that pupils can improve their skills to do science. Although there are several science process skills tests mentioned in the literature, we decided to develop an online one in order to improve the usefulness of the test and enable autoscoring to reduce the efforts needed from the teacher. For this purpose, a 17-item test with 2 open-ended and 15 multiple-choice items was developed. After the pilot with 18 8th grade pupils, the study was conducted with 83 8th grade pupils from Bursa in Turkey. Content validity was ensured since all 14 science process skills in the selected theoretical framework were covered in the test. Item analysis showed that these items are valid and reliable as KR20 showed a 0.75 reliability rating, item difficulties were higher than 0.40 and discrimination indexes were higher than 0.30. To gain a deeper insight, distractor analysis showed that all distractors were found to be functional. The test provides a more comprehensive and efficient method of assessing pupils’ science process skills, while also enhancing pupil engagement and accessibility. It has the potential to inform instruction and support for pupils, as well as advance research in the field of science education.