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Helping students develop informed views of nature of science (NOS) has been and continues to be a central goal for kindergarten through Grade 12 (K–12) science education. Since the early 1960s, major efforts have been undertaken to enhance K–12 students and science teachers’ NOS views. However, the crucial component of assessing learners’ NOS views remains an issue in research on NOS. This article aims to (a) trace the development of a new open-ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS), which in conjunction with individual interviews aims to provide meaningful

Increasingly, collaboration between business, non-profit, health and educational agencies is being championed as a powerful strategy to achieve a vision otherwise not possible when independent entities work alone. But the definition of collaboration is elusive and it is often difficult for organizations to put collaboration into practice and assess it with certainty. Program evaluators can assist practitioners concerned with the development of a strategic alliance predicated on collaboration by understanding and utilizing principles of collaboration theory. The Strategic Alliance Formative

Measuring fear of failure (FF) is a tremendous challenge for researchers and practitioners because (a) existing measures have demonstrated limited support for the validity of their score interpretations, and (b) existing measures are unidimensional while accumulating evidence suggests that FF is multidimensional. The Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory (PFAI) was developed to measures a set of empirically-derived cognitive-motivational-relational appraisals associated with FF. Results indicated that PFAI scores represented fears of (a) experiencing shame and embarrassment, (b) devaluing

The Personal and Academic Self-Concept Inventory (PASCI) measures global, social, physical, and academic components of self-concept, as well as social anxiety. It is a 45-item instrument for middle and secondary school students, and college students. Participants can respond on a continuum, ranging from “practically never” to “very often.”

In knowledge based economies technological literacy is gaining interest. Technological literacy correlates with attitude towards technology. When measuring technological literacy as an outcome of education, the attitudinal dimension has to be taken into account. This requires a valid, reliable instrument that should be as concise as possible, in order to use it in correlation with other instruments. The PATT instrument as developed in the nineties is an extensive survey that hasn’t been revalidated over the last three decades. The Pupils’ Attitudes Towards Technology (PATT) instrument was

Although the concept of school engagement figures prominently in most school dropout theories, there has been little empirical research conducted on its nature and course and, more importantly, the association with dropout. Information on the natural development of school engagement would greatly benefit those interested in preventing student alienation during adolescence. Using a longitudinal sample of 11,827 French-Canadian high school students, we tested behavioral, affective, cognitive indices of engagement both separately and as a global construct. We then assessed their contribution as