EVALUATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ASSESSING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ANALYTICAL THINKING SKILLS IN ZOOLOGY COURSE
EVALUATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ASSESSING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ANALYTICAL THINKING SKILLS IN ZOOLOGY COURSE

Summary/Abstract: The need for an explicit and validated instrument to assess analytical thinking skills in Zoology courses presents a critical divide in educational assessment. The research aims to evaluate the psychometrics of the instrument for assessing students' analytical thinking skills in the Zoology course. The main problem identified is the lack of an instrument that explicitly assesses analytical thinking skills in the context of Zoology and limitations in construct validity and measurement reliability. Data were collected from 642 students from various universities using stratified random sampling. The psychometric evaluation includes descriptive analysis, content validity with Aiken's V, construct validity through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and internal reliability with Cronbach's Alpha and Composite Reliability (CR). The results indicate that the instrument has good validity and reliability. Cronbach's Alpha and CR values are more than .70, indicating high internal consistency. Discriminant validity with an Average Variance Extracted (AVE) value above .50 confirms the differences between factors. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis identifies five factors that align with the Marzano model. Demographic factors such as age, Grade Point Average (GPA), university, involvement in extracurricular activities, and international experience significantly affect students' analytical thinking skills. The research's implications extend to the development of more accurate instruments for measuring analytical thinking skills in higher education and to providing new insights into the factors that contribute to the development of students' thinking skills.

• Details
• Contents