Development of An Achievement Test in Science Education: Example of Cell Division and Inheritance

The purpose of this research is to prepare an achievement test consisting of multiple-choice questions to measure the knowledge of the 8th grade students about the cell division and heredity unit. In this context, an achievement test consisting of 20 multiple choice questions was prepared, The validity and reliability studies of the test were conducted and the test’s cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.76. In addition, item difficulty and discriminant indices were calculated. All the items in the test were found to have acceptable item difficulty and discriminatory indices. 20 multiple choice questions were applied to hundred 8 grade students in a school in the Kocasinan province of Kayseri. The obtained data were analyzed with the SPSS 20 program and it was measured how the students learned about cell division and inheritance unit objectives. In the study, gender and class (A, B, C) participating in the study were determined as independent variables and the results were compared with independent samples t test. The results showed that there is no difference according to the gender variable, whereas the class B and class A are similar but class C is lower than class A and B. It can be said that this test, which was developed in order to determine the achievement level of cell division and inheritance of 8th grade students in the obtained findings, has reliable results in terms of validity and reliability and has a six factor structure. It can also be said that the difficulty and discrimination levels of the test items provide the desired criteria and that the test has the ability to distinguish between moderately difficult and academically low and high students