The instruments

Two different instruments were used in this study. The first was the SETSIS, which was formed in order to measure self-efficacy of PSTs in regards of teaching SPS using the three self-efficacy constructs. The second instrument is an existing validated instrument named the TISP (Shahali and Halim, 2010). It is used to validate the SETSIS in measuring the content knowledge of science inquiry skills. The details about each instrument and the consisting constructs are addressed in the following.

3.5.1 Self-Efficacy in Teaching using Science Inquiry Skills Instruments (SETSIS)

The SETSIS was the main instrument used to study the construct of self-efficacy in teaching SPS. Three dimensions, KE, PTE and OBE were used separately in pre- existing instruments to represent the underlying traits in measuring teacher self- efficacy in teaching science (Roberts and Henson, 2000; Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2001). In this study, the three dimensions are used to describe the construct of self-efficacy in regards to teaching using science inquiry skills among science PSTs. The items chosen to measure these dimensions were based on items from

previously validated instruments. However, because there is no existing instrument that relates specifically to teaching using science inquiry skills, the researcher has chosen items from several research instruments to create the items pool for this study. Most of these instruments focused on the constructs of teacher efficacy, self- efficacy in teaching and knowledge of science, self-efficacy in teaching science inquiry, self-efficacy in teaching physics, and self-motivation in learning science. While developing this instrument, the purpose remained clear that the items included would measure PSTs’ self-assessments of their belief and attitude towards teaching science through science inquiry skills, not their knowledge of teaching science through science inquiry skills. When necessary, item wording of existing measures was adapted to fit within the context of teaching using science inquiry skills.

Additionally, new items were written in order to capture the potentially important dimension of teacher’s self-efficacy in teaching SPS that were not includable in the pre-existing instrument. Details of the items of the SETSIS are described in section 4.5.

The SETSIS instrument was developed and used in two phases of the study. Firstly, this instrument was used in the pre-test study and secondly, it was used in the main research study. The details of the data of each study are described in Chapters 4 and 5.

3.5.2 Test of Integrated Science Process Skills (TISP)

The TISP was developed to assess the acquisition of integrated SPS specific to the science content defined in the Malaysian primary school science curriculum (Shahali and Halim, 2010). This paper-and-pencil test was first administered to 101year six primary school students with 30 initial items varied across five integrated SPS components (i.e. formulating hypotheses, controlling variables, defining

reliability of 0.80; however, five items were discarded. In the later study by Hafizan et al. (2012), the TISP was used to examine the acquisition level of the integrated SPS (operational) of 329 primary science teachers in Malaysia. The instrument was then refined with 25 multiple-choice items with the same five components (five items in each component) with the construct reliability values ranged from 0.34 to 0.53. The TISP was chosen because the consisting items contain conceptual materials on the Malaysia primary science curriculum as well as requiring the application of components of integrated SPS. The primary consideration relies on the validity of measuring the knowledge of SPS in primary school science. It is hoped that the test score should provide an accurate assessment of the PST’s ability to perform science inquiry skills in the primary science tasks, so that it can be used to cross-validate the predictive power of knowledge efficacy in the measurement model of the SETSIS. The skills of inquiry are based on seven basic skills of science process skills (i.e. observing, classifying, measuring and using numbers, inferring, predicting, communicating, and using space-time relationships) (Padilla, 1990) that were applied to form the integrated skills of SPS (controlling variables, defining

operationally, experimenting, interpreting data, and making hypothesis). The science inquiry skills in the context of this study were defined as performance in using the knowledge of integrated science process skills. In order to become competent in using science inquiry skills as classroom instruction, PSTs should be knowledgeable of how to apply and use the correct SPS in respective novel situations.

Performance in using integrated SPS was tested using five sub-scales that consists of a total of 25 items in the TISP. Each sub-scale measures knowledge in using an integrated scientific skill. Table 6 lists the definition for each of the five integrated SPS in the TISP. Every sub-scale consists of five multiple-choice questions about novel situations that involve each respective integrated skill. In the analysis, every correct answered was scored with ‘1’ (one) while every wrong answer scored ‘0’ (zero). The total scores of the five constructs of integrated SPS were accumulated to determine the score of the TISP. The score of the TISP was used to represent the knowledge of inquiry skills held by individual respondents.

The TISP was conducted together with the SETSIS survey. All respondents are PSTs (PST) majoring in teaching primary science; the same individuals responded to the SETSIS. Respondents chose to answer the TISP before or after the SETSIS, in their own time. Individual responses in the TISP and the SETSIS were identified using the same student’s number given on both survey papers.

The sample was presumed to have adequate knowledge of science process skills due to their admission on the programme (Bachelor of Teacher Programme)

admission. Additionally, the teacher-training curriculum provides implicit content of science process skills through the courses during training. The cross-sectional samples were used with the intention to explore general performance in the knowledge of science process skills across a group of semesters (semesters of study) in the programmes.

In general, performance in science process skills measured using the TISP can be defined as a way to measure the level of knowledge in science inquiry skills held by an individual PST. Individual PSTs with good performance of the TISP would have good knowledge of science inquiry skills. The result of the analysis in Chapter 6 provided the necessary evidence in order to evaluate whether the knowledge of science inquiry skills is a factor related to the factors of the SETSIS.

Table 6 Domains of the TISP