20090530

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

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 Fall Semester 2008 section 70158
(San Luis Obispo Campus)
(N = 61, matched pairs only)
Affect Cogn. Comp. Difficulty Value
Initial 3.7 +/- 0.6 3.6 +/- 0.6 3.8 +/- 0.5 2.6 +/- 0.4
Final 3.7 +/- 0.7 3.5 +/- 0.8 3.7 +/- 0.6 2.7 +/- 0.6

Cuesta College
Astronomy 210 Fall Semester 2008 section 70160
(North County Campus)
(N = 26, matched pairs only)
Affect Cogn. Comp. Difficulty Value
Initial 3.8 +/- 0.7 3.7 +/- 0.5 3.8 +/- 0.6 2.6 +/- 0.6
Final 3.9 +/- 0.7 3.7 +/- 0.7 3.7 +/- 0.5 2.8 +/- 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).

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