Development and Validation of an Educational Psychology Misconception Scale for Pre-Service Teachers
Track
Research Project / Learning Theories and Pedagogy
Abstract
Misconceptions are beliefs contradicted by empirical evidence. Prior research has investigated pre-service teachers’ beliefs, but has yet to identify specific misconceptions about educational psychology. Among pre-service teachers, misconceptions are particularly egregious because their beliefs directly influence curriculum development, pedagogy, and the construction of student learning environments. The extant literature has addressed misconceptions of general psychological constructs but further research is needed to identify educational psychology misconceptions particularly among pre-service teachers. This preliminary research began the development and validation process for an instrument to identify these beliefs as an initial step toward mitigating naïve beliefs about educational psychology among pre-service teachers. Participants (N = 173, 81.5% female, 18.5% male) indicated the extent of agreement with 15 educational psychology statements not supported by empirical evidence using a six-point Likert scale, with a separate “I have no knowledge of this topic” option to ensure that the instrument was measuring misconceptions, not lack of knowledge. 69.9% of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 30. Maximum likelihood estimation procedure with oblique rotation was used to extract four factors based on Kaiser’s rule and scree plot. Together, the factors explained 45% of the variance. Internal consistency for the scale and subscales were reported.
Session Format
Presentation Session
Location
Room 217
Recommended Citation
McAfee, Morgan M.A.; Xu, Lihua Ph.D.; and Hoffman, Bobby Ph.D., "Development and Validation of an Educational Psychology Misconception Scale for Pre-Service Teachers" (2016). SoTL Commons Conference. 37.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2016/37
Development and Validation of an Educational Psychology Misconception Scale for Pre-Service Teachers
Room 217
Misconceptions are beliefs contradicted by empirical evidence. Prior research has investigated pre-service teachers’ beliefs, but has yet to identify specific misconceptions about educational psychology. Among pre-service teachers, misconceptions are particularly egregious because their beliefs directly influence curriculum development, pedagogy, and the construction of student learning environments. The extant literature has addressed misconceptions of general psychological constructs but further research is needed to identify educational psychology misconceptions particularly among pre-service teachers. This preliminary research began the development and validation process for an instrument to identify these beliefs as an initial step toward mitigating naïve beliefs about educational psychology among pre-service teachers. Participants (N = 173, 81.5% female, 18.5% male) indicated the extent of agreement with 15 educational psychology statements not supported by empirical evidence using a six-point Likert scale, with a separate “I have no knowledge of this topic” option to ensure that the instrument was measuring misconceptions, not lack of knowledge. 69.9% of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 30. Maximum likelihood estimation procedure with oblique rotation was used to extract four factors based on Kaiser’s rule and scree plot. Together, the factors explained 45% of the variance. Internal consistency for the scale and subscales were reported.
