The secondary school biotechnology knowledge test (SBKT)

Abstract

The science of biotechnology is essential for the future of societies. That's why every individual in society needs accurate biotechnology knowledge to associate it with their daily lives. Based on this requirement, the present research aimed to develop a scale to determine secondary school students' knowledge levels on biotechnology and genetic engineering topics. We started the present study with constituting "The Biotechnology Knowledge and Concepts Scale (BKCS)" according to The Turkish Secondary School Biology Curriculum. Next, we used the findings of BKCS in addition to the learning outcomes of the topic to form the 30-item true-false type "The Secondary School Biotechnology Knowledge Test (SBKT)" in four steps. We used Rash Measurement Model to test the convenience of the sample, the validity, and reliability of the scores obtained from SBKT (The Secondary School Biotechnology Knowledge Test). Data analysis with Rash Measurement model showed that SBKT is unidimensional (infit-outfit values are between .05 and 1.2). Also, SKBT produced valid and reliable scores (reliability index=.73), item discrimination index of the scale is 1.67 (which means the items sorts students who have mastered the material from students who have not), and there are no biased items in the scale. Besides, based on the field expert opinions, we decided that SKBT is convenient and has content validity.