Developing a Pool of Test-items to Assess Student Understanding of the History of Science : Based upon AAAS "Be nchmarks for Science Literacy."

Abstract

The natufe of Science, history of science and

philosophy of science have become more and more

impoftant in modefn society, with an emphasis on science

litefacy' and 'science for all' In this study, a pool of

test-items has been developed in Korean to assess student

understanding of the history of science.

The Items were based on chapter 1Q "Historical

Perspective" in 'Benchmarks for Science Literacy" (993)

published by AAAS. 1ts target grades are from 6th to 12th

and the pool consists of 576 test-items. Reliability and

validity wefe tested and item analysis was perfofmed.

The developed test-items can be customized by

reconstruction or modification according to the situation,

and are able to contribute to Science education for

establishing science literacy.