Evaluating interest in acids–bases: development of an acid–base interest scale (ABIS) and assessment of pre-service science teachers' interest

Abstract

Students are more likely to be successful in topics they are interested in than others. This study aims to develop an Acid–Base Interest Scale (ABIS) and subsequently evaluate the interest of pre-service science teachers in acids–bases according to gender, years at the university, type of high school the pre-service science teachers attended, and their relative success in the module General Chemistry II. Upon careful consideration of validity and reliability for the development of the ABIS, data were collected from 453 pre-service science teachers. The five-point Likert-type ABIS consisted of 26 items and entailed three factors (“Individual Interest”, “Interest in Theoretical Information”, and “Interest related to Daily Life”). Cronbach's alpha coefficient representing the reliability of the ABIS was 0.894. Once the reliability of the ABIS was ascertained, it was administered to 982 pre-service science teachers in eight public universities in Turkey. Of the potential determinants evaluated, gender and years at the university were found to be statistically significant, whereas the type of high school the pre-service science teachers attended and the grade achieved in module General Chemistry II failed to be statistically significant.