Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which Texas high school seniors attained five selected earth science concepts. Additionally, the study investigated the influence of geographical location, school population size, sex, and years of science background on the Texas high school senior's attainment. The five earth science concepts, which were obtained from a list of 52 earth science concepts deemed important for the K-12 curriculum, were related to seasons, environment, the changing earth, day and night, and solar energy. The procedure included the development of a 60-item multiple-choice test instrument, a pilot test, random selection of 5 seniors from 100 Texas high schools, test packet mailout, and the analyses of the data. Based on the Frayer concept analysis scheme and the Klausmeier model, a 12-item test was constructed for each concept. The reliability of the concept test instrument was determined to be 0.89. The study population was from schools of each of five population size groups throughout the 20 Texas Education Service Center Regions. The study population was almost evenly divided between male and female seniors and between students with the required two years of science and students with more than the required two years of science. The level of attainment mastery for each concept was set at the 80% level or a mean score of 9.6 out of a possible score of 12. The results of the study indicated that the 80% level of mastery was attained by the seniors on the environment concept, the day and night concept, and the changing earth concept. However, the students did not attain mastery of the solar energy concept or the seasons concept. Although there were no differences in mean scores of seniors from different geographic regions of Texas, other demographic variables made significant differences in the mean scores of the students. The results indicated that seniors from schools in the second largest size range, male students, and students with more than two years of science background attained significantly higher scores.
Rollins, Mavis Amelia Mills (1980). The attainment of five selected earth science concepts by Texas High School Seniors. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -689506.