Construction of a Chemical Literacy Test for Engineering Students

Abstract

The objective of this study was to construct an assessment instrument to assess chemical literacy among undergraduate engineering students at a university in Thailand. The subjects were 400 undergraduate engineering students who were enrolled in a basic chemistry course in 2012 from the Faculty of Engineering at Rajamangala University of Technology Isan in Khon Kaen, Kalasin, and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces. The instruments consisted of 1) a table of test specifications, and 2) assessment forms to check congruence of agreement between experts. The assessment tool was entitled ―Chemical Literacy Test (CLT)‖. The CLT had two assessment formats: 1) Multiple-choice CLT, and 2) Written CLT. The results showed that the K-R 20 of the multiple-choice test was 0.720. The Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities of the Written CLT for knowledge and understanding of the relationship between chemistry, technology and society, application of analytical thinking, application of reasoning, and moral awareness and a sense of responsibility were 0.66, 0.61, 0.82, and 0.77, respectively. The result showed that the CLT was a quality assessment tool for assessing chemical literacy of engineering students studying chemistry.