This project will collect evidence supporting the validity of test instruments and initial characterization of high school teachers' background and use of materials and pedagogies. Dr. Sadler and his colleagues have developed more than 600 assessment items matched to the National Research Council's Physical Science Content Standards for grades K-12. Each item includes a distractor gleaned from an extensive review of research literature reporting on misconceptions in the physical sciences. With this item-level information, the project will construct and validate multiple forms of test instruments that can be used for the evaluation of interventions (e.g. professional development, implementation of new curricula) and the measurement of aspects of teacher knowledge (e.g. subject matter, knowledge of student misconceptions). The proposed tasks for the one-year project are: 1) a content validity study; 2) the assembly of trial test instruments; 3) a criterion referenced validity study; 4) a reliability study; and 5) the creation of a teacher curriculum and professional development survey. These five tasks will result in well-validated test instruments for high school chemistry and physics students and a survey that can document the variety of curricula, pedagogical approaches, and professional development backgrounds of high school science teachers to be researched at a future date. These well-validated instruments will also be made available to other researchers to aid in their efforts to evaluate specific interventions or programs.
