Evaluating the Affective Dimension in Chemistry Education - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 34

many different purposes that are important to the educational system, including
guiding instructional decision-making in the classroom, holding schools account-
able for students achievement, and monitoring and evaluating educational pro-

grams (Coffey, Douglas, & Stearns, 2008 ). Moreover, assessment should be an
integral part of teaching, not only as a tool to collect data, but also to influence
instruction (Higuchi, 1995 ; Tej, 1990 ). Evaluations often utilize assessment data
along with other resources to make decisions about revising, adopting, or rejecting a
course or program. Thus the assessment or evaluation of students

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performance
should ideally cover cognitive (i.e., knowledge/intellectual), affective (e.g., values,
attitudes, interest, and motivation), or social and psychomotor aspects of learning in
line with the specific requirement of the particular lessons.
For the purpose of assessing the affective dimension, Anderson and Anderson
( 1982 ) suggest five principles to be considered by teachers/researchers in which
they should know: (1) the purpose of assessment, (2) what will be assessed, (3) what
instruments are available, (4) the quality of the instruments, and (5) how to interpret
the assessment scores.

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3.1 The Purpose of Assessment

Anderson and Anderson ( 1982 ) identify two major purposes for assessing affective
characteristics. They are (1) to gain a better understanding of students prior to
instruction and (2) to examine the extent to which students have acquired the
affective objectives of a course or curriculum. In the first situation, affective
characteristics are means to an end in which the assessment enables the instruction
to be altered for particular students or types of students with the hope that such
alterations will lead to increased learning. In the second situation, affective char-
acteristics are ends in themselves, that is, specific programs are designed and
implemented in order to help students achieve particular affective objectives.
Whether affective characteristics are important as means to an end or ends in
themselves has consequences for the type of characteristics assessed. If they are
viewed as means, those chosen for assessment must relate one or more of the
available alternative classroom settings or teaching styles to the cognitive objec-
tives of the course or curriculum, or both. If they are viewed as ends in themselves,
the characteristics selected for assessment must conform to the goals and objectives
of the course or curriculum.
The chemistry education literature describes instruments that are used to assess
six different affective characteristics, including (1) attitude, (2) interest, (3) moti-
vation, (4) self-concept, (5) values, and (6) morals. These characteristics will be
discussed throughout this chapter:

1. An attitude instrument is intended to measure students attitude toward an

object, such as a chemistry lesson. The attitude can be positive or negative.

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