Changes in Attitudes about the Relevance of Science (CARS)

The tool was developed to measure: (a) change of science-related attitudes over time among students; and (b) the effect of similar curricula on the attitudes of different classes.

Average Review: 4 (4.0)

Supplemental Information:

Assessment Type:

Likert type

Scale:

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

Publication Date:

Oct 22, 2003

Respondent:

Middle and high school students

Domain(s) Evaluated:

Attitude / Behavior

Sample items:

Science can help me to make better choices about various things.
Learning science will have an effect on the way I vote in elections.

Reliability:

The Cronbach Alpha for all the forms is above .80.

Validity:

Most items fit the difficulty estimates of Rasch model.

Frequency:

Rarely

Administration time:

20 minutes

Requires a Computer:

No

Requires Internet Access:

No

Primary reference:

Siegel, M. A., & Ranney, M. A. (2003). Developing the Changes in Attitude about the Relevance of Science (CARS) questionnaire and assessing two high school science classes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(8), 757-775.

Comments:

The tool has three versions of the instrument: A, B, and C; each version has 8 common questions and a total of 59 questions.

Other Reference:
Smith, H. J. (2014). What do students find relevant in an introductory Geology course? Implications for changing students attitudes about the relevance of Geoscience in society. GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, 265.

CARS was used to quantitatively analyze changes in student attitude, finding no significant difference. This suggests the instrument is still in use for papers and subsequently still valid.

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.

Sasson, I. (2014). The role of informal science centers in science education: Attitudes, skills, and self-efficacy. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 4(3).

Liu, X. (2011). Developing measurement instruments for science education research. Second International Handbook of Science Education, 651-665.

STEM Criteria

Science

Yes

Technology

No

Engineering

No

Math

No
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Contact

Marcelle A. Siegel Assistant Professor University of Missouri, Columbia siegelm@missouri.edu Michael Ranney Associate Professor, University of California Berkely ranney@berkeley.edu