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RESEARCH PAPER
Construction and Evaluation of an Instrument to Measure High School Students Biological Content Knowledge
1
Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, KAZAKHSTAN
2
Miami University College of Education, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
3
Ohio State University, College of Education and Human Ecology, Department of Teaching and Learning Columbus, Ohio, USA
4
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, College of Biological Sciences, Department of Biology Teaching and Learning, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
5
Ohio State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Columbus, OH, USA
Publication date: 2021-11-26
EURASIA J. Math., Sci Tech. Ed 2021;17(12):em2048
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Instruments for assessing secondary students’ conceptual understanding of core concepts in
biology are needed by educational practitioners and researchers alike. Most instruments available
for secondary biology (years 9 to 12) focus only on highly specific biological concepts instead of
multiple core concepts. This study describes the development of a 25-item instrument designed
to fill this gap, the High School Biology Concept Inventory (HS-BCI). The HS-BCI not only assesses
student knowledge of key biological concepts but also alternative conceptions. Using Rasch
theory, the initial instrument was constructed from a pool of 61 instrument items using test results
from 1015 students. The final 25-item instrument was validated with 1955 students. The results
provide reliability and validity evidence for the HS-BCI. The findings suggest that it can be utilized
to assess both conceptual knowledge and alternative conceptions.
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