The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the psychometric properties of The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS). The 50-item instrument was administered to 311 college students from a public institution in the United States enrolled in General Chemistry I Laboratory. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's [alpha]…

Students must be sufficiently motivated in order to achieve the intended learning outcomes of their college courses. Research in education and psychology has found motivation to be context-dependent. Therefore, students' motivation is likely to differ from one semester to the next according to which courses students are taking. However, there are…

Presented a distinction between concepts of face validity and item subtlety. Trait categories were differentially accessible to individual judges. Higher criterion validities were associated with less subtle and more face-valid items. Results support a rational approach to test construction and emphasize the use of relevant test item content.…

Twenty-six test variables for psychological differentiation and cognitive abilities were factor analyzed with a view towards replication of certain factors of perceptual and conceptual differentiation and related these factors to cognitive abilities. (Author)