Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Spring Semester 2009)

Student attitudes were assessed using the Survey of Attitudes Towards Astronomy (SATA), a 34-question, five-point Likert scale questionnaire that measures four attitude subscales (Zeilik & Morris, 2003):

• Affect (positive student attitudes towards astronomy and science);
  
• Cognitive competence (students' self-assessment of their astronomy/science knowledge and skills);
  
• Difficulty (reverse-coded such that high-difficulty corresponds to a rating of 1, low-difficulty assessment of astronomy/science corresponds to a rating of 5);
  
• Value (students' assessment of the usefulness, relevance, and worth of astronomy/science in personal and professional life).

The SATA was administered as a pre-test on the first day of class, and as a post-test on the last day of class.

Cuesta College
Astronomy 210 Spring Semester 2009 section 30676
(San Luis Obispo Campus)
(N = 50, matched pairs only)
        Affect       Cogn. Comp.  Difficulty   Value
Initial 3.6 +/- 0.6  3.6 +/- 0.5  3.7 +/- 0.5  2.6 +/- 0.5
Final   3.7 +/- 0.7  3.6 +/- 0.7  3.7 +/- 0.5  2.9 +/- 0.6

Cuesta College
Astronomy 210 Spring Semester 2009 section 30674 
(North County Campus)
(N = 30, matched pairs only)
        Affect       Cogn. Comp.  Difficulty   Value
Initial 3.8 +/- 0.5  3.8 +/- 0.4  3.8 +/- 0.5  2.8 +/- 0.5
Final   3.7 +/- 0.7  3.6 +/- 0.6  3.6 +/- 0.5  2.8 +/- 0.6

Cuesta College
Astronomy 210 Spring Semester 2009 section 30677 
(San Luis Obispo Campus, 9-week accelerated section)
(N = 18, matched pairs only)
        Affect       Cogn. Comp.  Difficulty   Value
Initial 3.4 +/- 0.7  3.5 +/- 0.6  3.8 +/- 0.5  2.5 +/- 0.4
Final   3.9 +/- 0.5  3.7 +/- 0.6  3.8 +/- 0.6  3.1 +/- 0.6

Apparently no or small (statistically significant?) differences between the pre-test and post-test results for each section.

References, and more detailed discussion on previous semesters' results:
Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2007).

Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Spring Semester 2008).

Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2008).