Welcome to the ITEST Resource Library
The curricula, instruments, and publications included in this library were submitted by ITEST projects and are relevant to the work of the NSF ITEST Program. Use the filters to the right to find relevant materials. A PDF and/or URL to the original resource are included within the resource description whenever possible. In some cases, full text publications are located behind publishers’ paywalls and a fee or membership to the third party site may be required for access.
Please note: permission for the use of instruments must be requested through the publisher or author listed in each entry, and cannot be granted by STELAR.
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OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
InstrumentsThe OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a collaborative effort among OECD member countries to measure how well 15-year-old students approaching the end of compulsory schooling are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s knowledge societies. The assessment is forward-looking: rather than focusing on the extent to which these students have mastered a specific school curriculum, it looks at their ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. This orientation reflects a change in curricular goals and objectives, which are increasingly
Rating of Mother-Child Interactions
InstrumentsThis study examined relations between ratings of mother-child interactions in a problem-solving situation at school entry and academic achievement in grades 2, 3, and 4. Data on the child's cognitive and fine-motor ability and mother's education were also collected at school entry. Academic achievement was assessed with the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). A factor score reflecting mother-child competence in the interaction situation correlated approximately .40 with ITBS total and subtest scores in grades 2, 3, and 4. In regression analyses with the mother-child measures entered first
The Impact of Environmental Education on Sense of Place Among Urban Youth
PublicationsResearch suggests that an ecologically informed sense of place, including strong place attachment and ecological place meaning, contributes to pro-environmental behaviors. Yet it is unclear whether an intervention such as environmental education can intentionally influence sense of place, especially in cities. To investigate the impact of urban environmental education programs on sense of place, we used pre/post surveys of youth in 5-week environmental and non-environmental summer youth programs in the Bronx, New York City, in 2010. Results show that urban environmental education programs
The Nature Relatedness Scale
InstrumentsDisconnection from the natural world may be contributing to our planet's destruction. The authors propose a new construct, Nature Relatedness (NR), and a scale that assesses the affective, cognitive, and experiential aspects of individuals' connection to nature. In Study 1, the authors explored the internal structure of the NR item responses in a sample of 831 participants using factor analysis. They tested the construct validity of NR with respect to an assortment of environmental and personality measures. In Study 2, they employed experience sampling methodology examining if NR people spend
Epistemological Beliefs Assessment for Physical Science (EBAPS)
InstrumentsThis scale measures students' views about the nature of knowledge and learning in the physical sciences along five non-orthogonal dimensions (structure of scientific knowledge, nature of knowing and learning, real-life applicability, evolving knowledge, & source of ability to learn.
Motivation, Learning, and Transformative Experience: A Study of Deep Engagement in Science
PublicationsThis study investigated the prevalence of transformative experiences, antecedents of transformative experience, and the relation between transformative experience and deep‐level learning (conceptual change and transfer) for high school biology students ( N = 166). Results suggested that the high school students in our sample typically engaged in low levels of transformative experience with respect to biology, but those students who strongly identified with science and who endorsed a mastery goal orientation were more likely to report engagement in higher levels of transformative experience
Student Interest in Technology and Science (SITS) Survey: Development, Validation, and Use of a New Instrument
InstrumentsThis study presents the systematic development, validation, and use of a new instrument for measuring student interest in science and technology. The Student Interest in Technology and Science (SITS) survey is composed of 5 sub-sections assessing the following dimensions: interest in learning science, using technology to learn science, science careers, technology careers, and attitudes toward biotechnology. Our development process included review of existing instrumentation, pilot testing, and expert panel review. The resulting instrument was administered before and after implementation of a
The Efficacy of Educative Curriculum Materials to Support Geospatial Science Pedagogical Content Knowledge
PublicationsTeaching and learning about geospatial aspects of energy resource issues requires that science teachers apply effective science pedagogical approaches to implement geospatial technologies into classroom instruction. To address this need, we designed educative curriculum materials as an integral part of a comprehensive middle school energy resources science curriculum. We examined teachers’ perceived impact of the curriculum materials to support their pedagogical content knowledge related to teaching science with geospatial technologies. Results indicated that the educative curriculum materials
Computational Thinking in Elementary and Secondary Teacher Education
PublicationsComputational thinking (CT) is broadly defined as the mental activity for abstracting problems and formulating solutions that can be automated. In an increasingly information-based society, CT is becoming an essential skill for everyone. To ensure that students develop this ability at the K-12 level, it is important to provide teachers with an adequate knowledge about CT and how to incorporate it into their teaching. This article describes a study on designing and introducing computational thinking modules and assessing their impact on preservice teachers’ understanding of CT concepts, as well
Preservice Teachers’ Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-efficacy and Outcome Expectancy Beliefs
InstrumentsGuided by the theoretical and empirical research on self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs, and the Culturally Responsive Teaching Competencies [Siwatu, K.O. (2006a). The development of the culturally responsive teaching competencies: Implications for teacher education. Manuscript under review], two measures—the Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (CRTSE) and the Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy (CRTOE) Scale—were developed and administered to a sample of preservice teachers in the Midwest. The findings from this study suggest that preservice teachers are