Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2010)

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 2010 sections 70158, 70160
(N = 80, matched pairs only,
          excluding negative informed consent form responses)

        Affect       Cogn. Comp.  Difficulty   Value
Initial 3.8 +/- 0.6  3.7 +/- 0.5  3.9 +/- 0.5  2.7 +/- 0.4
Final   3.8 +/- 0.7  3.7 +/- 0.7  3.8 +/- 0.5  2.9 +/- 0.6

Little or no difference from pre- to post-instruction, and also comparable to six previous semesters' results. Plans for subsequent semesters is to replace the SATA with the Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ), a 30-question, five-point Likert scale questionnaire that measures six subscales (Glynn & Koballa, 2006):

• Intrinsic motivation;
  
• Extrinsic motivation;
  
• Personal relevance;
  
• Self-determination;
  
• Self-efficacy;
  
• Assessment anxiety.

References, and more detailed discussion on previous semesters' SATA results:

• Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Spring Semester 2010).
  
• Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2009).
  
• Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Spring Semester 2009).
  
• Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2008).
  
• Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Spring Semester 2008).
  
• Education research: SATA results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2007).