Modified Attitudes towards Science Inventory (mATSI)

Measures students' attitudes towards science related to such factors as students' perceptions of the science teacher, anxiety toward science, value of science in society, self-concept toward science and desire to do science.

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Supplemental Information:

Modified_ATSI_with_scoreing.pdf (84.1 KB) Download

Assessment Type:

25 5-point Likert scale items

Scale:

5-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree)

Publication Date:

Nov 07, 2008

Respondent:

5th grade students

Domain(s) Evaluated:

Engagement, Attitude / Behavior

Sample items:

1. Science teachers make science interesting.
2. No matter how hard I try, I can not understand science.
3. I feel tense when someone talks to me about science.

Reliability:

Adequate

Validity:

Adequate

Frequency:

Rarely

Administration time:

25 minutes

Requires a Computer:

Requires Internet Access:

Primary reference:

Weinburgh, M.E. & Steele, D. (2000). The modified attitudes toward science inventory: Developing an instrument to be used with fifth grade urban students. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 6(1), 87-94.

Comments:

The author (Weinburgh) of the ATSI revised her original instrument in order to make it reliable for urban African-American 5th grade students and reduce administration time.

Studies that use mATSI:
Cartwright, T.J. & Atwood, J. (2014). Elementary pre-service teachers' response-shift bias: Self-efficacy and attitudes toward science. International Journal of Science Education, 36(14), 2421-2437.

Buck, G., Cook, K., Quigley, C., Eastwood, J., & Lucas, Y. (2009). Profiles of Urban, Low SES, African American Girls’ Attitudes Toward Science: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Study. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 3(4), 386–410.

Weinburgh, M. H. (2003). The effects of systemic reform on urban, African American fifth grade students attitudes toward science. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 9(1), 53-72.

A report using mATSI:
Hussar, K., Schwartz, S., Boiselle, E., & Noam, G. G. (2008). Toward a systematic evidence-base for science in out-of-school time: The role of assessment. Noyce Foundation. 1-87.

Other References:
Buck, G. A., Cook, K. L., Quigley, C. F., Prince, P. & Lucas, Y. (2014). Seeking to improve African American girls' attitudes towards science. The Elementary School Journal, 114(3), 431-453.

Study made use of mATSI to gain an understanding of the participants before any intervention action was taken. The study used a modified version of the survey to be able to measure fifth-grade African American girls and boys. The adjusted version was assessed finding maintained validity to the original survey.

Akarsu, B. & Kariper, A. (2013). Upper secondary school pupils' attitudes towards natural science. European Journal of Physics Education, 4(1), 78-87.

This study made use of a combined version of this questionnaire (combined with Children's Science Curiosity Scale (CSCS)). Simultaneous and convergent validity was established through factor analysis, adequate levels for both were found. The reliability was established using the coefficient alpha (exact values not reported).