Development of an Attitude Scale on Activities Related to Biology and Nature for Mentally Disabled Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale to determine the attitudes towards the activities that can be applied to the mentally retarded students about biology and nature. During the preparation of the draft form of the scale, an item pool was created from relevant literature. Then, these items were presented to expert opinion in terms of language, intelligibility and content. This draft scale with 30 items in 5-point Likert type was applied to 177 pre-service teachers studying in the special education department of the faculty of education at a state university. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed for the data collected after the application. As a result of the analyses, it was revealed that the scale had a five-factor structure consisting of 20 items. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the factor structure was compatible with the data. Goodness of fit index values was sufficient. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.89. It can be said that the scale is valid and reliable in determining the views of pre-service teachers about the activities to be applied for mentally retarded students. In addition, the scale is suitable not only for teacher candidates, but also for use by teachers and researchers. In addition, different types of samples such as students in other fields at the undergraduate level and special education teachers who take courses related to special education can be included in the study group.

The Opinions of Prospective Teachers about Biology and Nature-Related Activities for Mentally Disabled Students

“…'Attitude Scale on Activities Related to Biology and Nature for Mentally Disabled Students' developed by Gul et al (2023) was used as a data collection tool. The scale consisted of a total of 21 items grouped under 5 factors.…”

“…The studies on education for mentally disabled students in our country have gained momentum in recent years, and in parallel with these studies, some studies have been started in the field of mentally disabled education (Baki, 2014;Karakaş, 2018;Şahin & Kardaş, 2023;Uç ar, S., & Balbağ, 2021). Yet, studies on science education for mentally disabled students are quite limited (Çapraz, 2016;Demir, 2008;Gul et al, 2023;Mete, 2016;Mete et al, 2017;Terzioğlu et al, 2023;Uslu, 2012). One of these studies was conducted by Mete (2016).…”

Significance of Assessment in Learning: The Role of Educational Assessment Tools

“…Developing an Achievement Test on the Subject of "Basic Compounds in the Structure of Living Things" seeks to create a multiple-choice achievement test with tested validity and reliability for a biology course (Yalinkilic & Gul, 2023). Development of a Teacher Attitude Scale on Activities Related to Biology and Nature for Mentally Disabled Students is a study meant to develop a 5-point Likert scale for evaluating the attitudes of pre-service special education teachers towards activities for a mentally retarded group on subjects of biology and nature (Gul et al, 2023). Both assessment tools were validated by empirical data.…”