Construction and Standardization of an Attainment Test in Physics for Class-VIII Students

Abstract

The subject Physics focuses on conceptual learning. Students who have a strong foundation in basic physics concepts can connect new material to what they already know, leading to deeper understanding and more effective learning. From Several research studies it was revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between prior knowledge and the learning outcomes in the subject Physics. Students with higher prior knowledge perform better in assessments and feel more comfortable during the learning process. Therefore, constructing a prior knowledge test in physics which is also known as an Attainment test is a critical step in effective science education. It provides an important diagnostic information, supports personalized learning, and finally leads to better   outcomes of the students and a more meaningful understanding of the concepts of physics. Therefore, construction and standardization of an Attainment Test is a basic tool in understanding the prior knowledge of the students. The present study targeted to construct and standardize Attainment test in Physics for school students studying in Class-VIII. The test consists of Multiple-Choice Test items with four options where one option is correct and other three are wrong. The test was constructed in Assamese (vernacular) and English language. For constructing the Attainment Test, 50 test-items was selected from the 100 test-items after item analysis. A sample of 667 students was selected purposively from the eleven schools. To evaluate the test's validity and reliability, the collected data were studied using the Pearson Product Moment correlation method to determine the reliability coefficient. The reliability coefficient of the English version of the test was found as 0.67, while it was recorded as 0.82 for the Assamese version (vernacular language). The reliability coefficient of the test was recorded as 0.75 while calculated for both the language English and Assamese (vernacular) jointly. Present study revealed that the constructed Attainment test was found to be quite satisfactory, which can be used as an assessment tool for determining the prior knowledge of Class-VIII students in Physics.

Keywords: Attainment test, Prior Knowledge, Construction, Standardization, Physics.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/16-6-05

Publication date: June 30^th 2025