Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the High School Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a scale assessing high school students’ selfefficacy beliefs in chemistry-related tasks and to assess psychometric properties of scores on this scale. A pilot study with a sample of 150 high school students provided initial evidence for two-factor structure of 16-item scale, named High School Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (HCSS). The final form of the HCSS was administered to 362 high school students in Turkey. Confirmatory factor analysis fit indices and factor pattern coefficients supported the proposed structure, with the two factors directly corresponding to the hypothesized dimensions. These dimensions were chemistry self-efficacy for cognitive skills (10 items, a reliability = .90) and self-efficacy for chemistry laboratory (6 items, a reliability = .92). In addition, the two-factor model for the HCSS was invariant across school types. Analyses of latent mean structure indicated that private school students were statistically more efficacious than public school students in chemistry laboratory skills. The HCSS is a promising tool to identify chemistry self-efficacy beliefs in high school students.

The relationship between vicarious experience, social persuasion, physiological state, and chemistry self‐efficacy: The role of mastery experience as a mediator

“…This scale was developed by Çapa Aydın and Uzuntiryaki () to assess students’ self‐efficacy beliefs in mastering cognitive skills in chemistry and accomplishing laboratory tasks in a chemistry class. It includes 16 items on a 9‐point rating scale ranging from “ very poorly ” to “ very well .” The validation process of the scale was completed in two stages.…”

“…Results indicated an acceptable model fit (Nonnormed Fit Index [NNFI] = 0.97; Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = 0.98; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = 0.09). In terms of internal consistency, the Cronbach's α coefficients were 0.90 for chemistry self‐efficacy for cognitive skills and 0.92 for self‐efficacy for chemistry laboratory (Çapa Aydın & Uzuntiryaki, ). In the current study, we focused only on the cognitive dimension of the scale (consisting of 10 items) with the reasoning that high school students in Turkey are not often exposed to laboratory experiences.…”

“…For example, individuals may judge themselves as capable of performing tasks in mathematics but not in chemistry. Thus, specific measures of self-efficacy have been developed in different domains such as mathematics (Toland & Usher, 2016), biology (Baldwin, Ebert-May, & Burns, 1999), chemistry (Çapa Aydın & Uzuntiryaki, 2009), and writing (Bruning, Dempsey, Kauffman, McKim, & Zumbrunn, 2013). Extensive research indicates that domain-specific measures are better predictors of students' academic performance and motivation than global measures (Klassen & Usher, 2010).…”

Assessing motivation to learn chemistry: adaptation and validation of Science Motivation Questionnaire II with Greek secondary school students

“…The researchers reported evidence for strong construct validity of the scales, by testing them on Australian lower secondary students (Velayutham et al, 2011). Another scale designated as the ''High School Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale'' was developed and validated by Aydin and Uzuntiryaki (2009) in order to measure Turkish high school students' self-efficacy from the perspectives of cognitive and laboratory competencies.…”

Evaluating a Brief Measure of Social Self-Efficacy among U.S. Adolescents

“…Studies suggest the usefulness of analyzing self-efficacy has merit across various human dynamic improvement situations including (but not limited to) learning or education-based interests of students in preschool (Hoskovcová, 2006) or high school (aydin & Uzuntiryaki, 2009) to graduate education (Rishel & Majewski, 2009), career performance or intervention interests in fields such as nursing (Lee & Ko, 2010) and law enforcement (tanigoshi, Kontos, & Remley, 2008), analysis of factors in behavioral adjustment or changing endeavors such as smoking cessation (Rollins & terrion, 2010), and medical applications such as gaining further understanding of quality of life in chronic pain patients (Börsbo, Gerdle, & Peolsson, 2010). The breadth of studies investigating self-efficacy is clearly large; nevertheless, currently not all facets of self-efficacy have been analyzed.…”